Solo Saga: Teddy's Adulthood
by VibeQuake
Summary: My name is Teddy the Platypus and I am the oldest son and child of OWCA's top agent. I'm eight years old, an adult now, and trying to adjust to being a full agent of OWCA. Life is confusing for me: I have three love interests and no idea what to do. Worse, it's starting to affect my work life... (Some things may not make sense unless you've read my previous stories)
1. Pearl's Nightmare & Teddy's Daydream

**Okay, so I'm going to be doing these…let's call them footnotes…at the beginning and end of every chapter now on. So the next three stories—including this one—are going to be in first person perspective** _ **and**_ **in present tense! Teddy's name is in the title but there are going to be different first person perspectives occasionally. In fact, we're going to start with Pearl! YAY! Also, this is going to be a short chapter to kick off the new trilogy :)**

…

 **Pearl's POV**

 _Screaming. Patrick's hand in mine. Pulling. I'm holding my mate's hand but it's dark and I can't see him and all I can feel is Patrick's sweaty hand. His hand is wrenched from mine, his screams echoing in the darkness._

 _Then the lights are on and Patrick's standing in front of me, only he's half mechanical and his face shows pure anger as he attacks me over and over again, killing me, and I'm screaming at him to stop but he doesn't, and…_

" _Patrick!"_ I wake up, sweating profusely and breathing heavily.

"Mom?"

It's Perry's voice. My son runs to my bedside and puts his paw on my shoulder. "Are you okay, Mom?"

"I'm fine, Perry," I croak, my heart's intense pounding telling a different story. "Just a nightmare. Sorry to wake you up."

"I was already up, don't worry."

"Why are you up so early?"

"It's Teddy's first day as a full agent," Perry replies. "We're heading up to HQ soon. Besides, it's not that early. It's only six thirty."

I sit up on the bed and swing my legs over the side of my bed. "Do you want me to come?" I ask.

Perry shakes his head. "It's fine, Mom. Just go back to sleep."

I think about making a snarky reply like "easy for you to say", but I can go back to sleep easily after a nightmare. They only affect me when I'm having them and in the few minutes after. I nod. Perry gives me a quick hug, before he leaves and I settle back down to go to sleep, which comes easily and, this time, dreamlessly.

…

 **Teddy's POV**

I am so excited. My four-year-long basic training is finally over. Today, I am a true OWCA agent!

Dad's telling me to eat breakfast but I'm too excited to eat anything more than one piece of toast. Mom comes down the stairs, beaming widely. "My little boy…" she keeps crooning.

"Mom…" I complain. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Uh huh," says Dad. "The constant twitching of your feet, a gesture we know very well, tells otherwise."

Darn it. I grin widely. "Okay, so it _is_ a big deal. Well, I can't help it. I'm just really excited."

Thundering on the steps tells me that my little sister is coming. Sure enough, the smaller silver platypus comes running into the room. "You almost forgot about me!" she complains.

"Aw, I could never forget about you, little sis." I ruffle the top of her head.

"I'm not five," she protests. "I'm only seven months younger than you, you know."

"I know that, little sis."

She ducks out of the way of my hand as I prepare to ruffle her head again. "You can't call me that when the new baby comes."

"I could, if it's a boy," I point out.

Mom separates us. "Kids, come on. Teddy, be nice to your sister."

"Aw, come _on!"_

"Hazel, remember that the new baby is going to be seven years younger than you. That's quite an age difference compared to the seven months between you and Teddy."

"Why are you telling just me that?" Hazel asks. "I'm not the one who's going to pick on the new baby."

"I won't pick on the new baby!" I argue.

"Teddy, we're going to be late if we don't leave now," Dad warns from the kitchen.

"Okay, I'm coming," I call.


	2. On The First Day

**Just so you know Major Monogram commissioned a tram system to get around the underground village, and it also goes to OWCA HQ. Also, I may have forgotten to mention that this story takes place seven and a half years after New Life.**

…

 **Perry's POV**

I can't believe this day is here. All my life, I have dreamed of seeing my child become a true OWCA agent, and now that day is here! As we sit in the empty tram, Teddy keeps fidgeting and staring out the window and changing seats. Finally, I tell him, "Just sit down in one place. I know it's exciting but you're making me nervous."

Teddy settles down but he's kneeling on the seat with his hands on the window, peering out. I feel the need to point out, "You've been on this tram a hundred times. Today is no different."

"Actually it is," Teddy says. "For some reason, everything looks different now that I'm a full agent."

I chuckle. "I felt the same way when I first became an agent. Wait, you've got your backpack, right?"

"Sure," Teddy says, gesturing with his head towards the chair beside him. "It's right there."

I stare at the light red backpack. "That thing's almost invisible against the red seats." I pause. "It looks quite full. What's in there?"

"Mom packed it," replies Teddy. "I did look in, though. There's a packed lunch, typically. Plus there's a few photos and stuff in there. I don't know why she packed those."

"Your mom's a sentimental platypus," I tell him. "Ah, here's the station."

 **Teddy's POV**

When we reach HQ, Major Monogram and Carl are waiting for me with the rest of the new recruits. Monogram eyes me; I may be slightly late. I smile sheepishly.

"Ah Agent P," he says to Dad. "You can leave Agent Teddy with me."

Agent Teddy! I will never get used to that. Dad nods. "Is it okay if I stay for a few minutes?"

Monogram agrees. If my dad were any other agent, I'd be embarrassed. But since my dad is OWCA's top agent, I can't help shooting a smirk at the fox agent on my left. The agent gives me a glare.

Major Monogram addresses the group, which is made up of me and about a dozen others. "Welcome, new recruits. This is the beginning of your six-month probation period, after which there will be a final test. If you pass, you will be taken off probation and be able to go on regular missions. If you do not, you will remain on probation for six more months. Each of you will be assigned a supervising officer, or SO. Your SO will train and supervise you for your first six months. If your SO is assigned a mission, they may choose to bring you along. If so, work as hard at it as you can. If not, then it is your responsibility to continue training without them for however long they are on a mission for. Any questions?"

Nobody speaks. I'm just thinking about who my SO will be. I hope they'll be nice but firm.

"Good. Carl will now assign the supervising officers."

With that, the intern steps forward and reads from a clipboard. When the SO is read out, they and the agent assigned to them leave into the building. I wave goodbye to my friends, Piper the Platypus and Mayfair the Cat, who both trained with me when we were doing our basic training. Mayfair's been assigned to some bulldog agent I don't know, and Piper herself has been assigned to Kimi the Panda, daughter of Peter the Panda and Patty the Panda.

Dad has to leave halfway through. He gets a text from Mom saying the egg's coming so he rushes off. I wish I could be there too but of course I can't, so I listen for my name to be called. Typically, I'm last: "Agent Teddy the Platypus, you've been assigned to Luke the Platypus.

The red platypus standing behind Carl makes a "hmph" sound. I groan in my head. Luke the Platypus is well known for being a cold and tough agent. Unluckily for me, he seems to have inherited the dark sides of both his parents; though I didn't really know either of his parents, Ohio and India, I knew how they died. I think Sam, Luke, and Piper blame my dad for their deaths. I'm not sure how that works, but Piper took ages to forgive me, and I wasn't even there. Luckily, she did. I don't really interact with Sam since he asked to be transferred to the Seattle branch of OWCA two years ago. I also don't know Luke very well. But judging by the glare he's giving me, he's probably not going to let me come on any missions with him. He's probably going to be a very hard SO to work with…

Luke turns and walks inside. I hurry to catch up. We don't pass anybody; they're all in their office cubicles. We walk in excruciatingly awkward silence towards the offices.

"What should I call you?" I ask, just to break the silence. "Do I call you Luke or do I call you sir?"

 **Luke's POV**

I wish Major Monogram hadn't assigned me to _him_. I answer as patiently as I can: "Just Luke is fine."

I regret the words as soon as they leave my beak. I really hope he won't call me "Just Luke"—I don't think either of us would survive much longer if he did—but he wisely doesn't say anything. We continue walking.

"So how long have you been a full agent?"

My left eye twitches. "Two years."

"Whoa…so how old are you?"

I count to ten in my head. _He didn't do anything wrong,_ I tell myself. _Just answer the question._ "Ten."

"I'm eight," Teddy proclaims, as if it is a fact to be proud of.

"I'm aware," I say through gritted teeth.

"My sister's going to be at this point next year," continues Teddy. "She's seven but she's only seven months younger than me."

I can't take it anymore. I turn sharply and face the slightly smaller platypus, who stops in surprise. "Listen here," I hiss. "I don't want to be your SO. I didn't even want to be an SO to anybody in the first place. If you don't get on my nerves, I won't make your probation a living hell. Got it?"

He nods hurriedly. I do feel a little bad, especially since my problem is with his dad and not him, but I turn away from him and keep walking. He follows.

 **Teddy's POV**

Man, what is that platypus's problem? Surely he knows it wasn't me who had anything to do with his parents' deaths? Maybe he blames my dad and is taking it out on me…hmm…

We reach the offices. The office floor has recently been expanded into two more, slightly smaller floors, one above the main office floor and one below, since the number of agents has doubled.

Luke leads me to one of the cubicles, which is empty. "This is yours," he says.

I think I've heard him wrong at first. "What? I thought only full agents get offices. Aren't I technically still a trainee?"

"No," Luke replies shortly. " _Technically_ , you're a full agent who has his own cubicle."

"SWEET!"

I run into the cubicle, dump my backpack by the entrance, and inspect the office. There's a desk, a computer, a printer, a sweet office chair, a filing cabinet, and a waste paper bin. "Can I decorate it however I like?" I ask Luke.

My SO is already looking like he wants to kill himself. "Sure," he says, his manner having not changed. "Just no big posters."

"Am I allowed a small PFT poster?"

Luke just nods once before disappearing. I'm assuming training doesn't start until later, so I sit down in my office chair and lean back. I can see myself doing a lot of paperwork in this office. I can't help grinning. My first day as an agent, and already I have an office!

I suddenly remember the stuff in my backpack. I pull out the packed lunch and put it on my desk for later. Then I pull out the four photos Mom packed. Mom must have known that I was going to get my own office today…

I look at the photos. The first is of me as a baby sitting on Mom's shoulders, the second is of me and Hazel in the bathtub, the third is of the four of us in the park, and the fourth is the family portrait that was taken of us when OWCA had a picture day. Only the latter is in a picture frame, so I set that nicely on the desk. I find some thumb tacks in the drawer of my desk, so I use those to tack the other three photos onto the wall. I smile as I look at them. Now it's beginning to feel like home.

...

 **SO now that you've met some of my newest OCs, who do you think Teddy's three love interests are?**


	3. Two Little Chats

**Author's note: from now on "James the whale song singing double breasted angle hooper" is going to be shortened to "James the Hooper" because the long name is…well…too long ;P**

…

 **Priya's POV**

I gently put the light yellow egg in the special incubation tank that Perry's former owners made for me when I was pregnant with Hazel. It makes sure that I don't have to be sitting on the egg 24/7. As I found out with Teddy, that is incredibly stressful.

Pearl, Perry's mom, is up and about, making some cupcakes. I come into the kitchen to help and find her mixing batter. She turns as I come in. "Oh, hey, Priya. Don't you need to go to work today?"

I shake my head. "I'm only doing occasional paperwork. It's what Patty used to do before she chose to become a full agent."

"Patty?" repeats Pearl.

"Perry's friend Peter's mate."

"Ah. I know Peter."

I bring the icing sugar down and start to make the icing. "Are you okay?" I ask. "You seemed tired this morning."

"It's not morning still?" Pearl says, looking confused.

"No, it's early afternoon: ten past midday." I mix the icing sugar and butter together. "But you did seem really tired this morning."

Pearl doesn't look at me. "I keep getting nightmares about Perry's dad," she says. "I thought they'd stopped but since I moved in with you, they're getting more frequent. I don't know why. It's been nearly twelve years now."

"I understand how you feel," I say sympathetically. "Well, not really, because I've never been through what you went through. I don't know if Perry told you this, but nearly eight years ago I was kidnapped by LOVEMUFFIN when I was pregnant with Teddy's egg."

"I think he did mention it," Pearl says, putting down her spoon and at last looking at me. "What happened?"

"I gave birth to the egg in that prison," I remember. "I was so terrified that the egg was going to be discovered. LOVEMUFFIN scientists came into the cell so often over the ten day incubation period. Those ten days were the worst days of my life. I kept thinking _today's the day. They're going to find the egg today._ They never did, but to this day I still get nightmares where they _do_ find the egg and take it away. They seem mild compared to yours, though."

"Oh, I don't know," Pearl says humorously as she begins to pour the mixture into the paper cups. "Having your mate taken away from you or having your egg containing your unborn child nearly be discovered every day for ten days. They're pretty close."

I smile. "Thanks for chatting, Pearl."

"Anytime. I really like talking to you."

 **Teddy's POV**

Lunchtime comes around sooner than I think. Luke dropped off some forms and a couple of questionnaires, which I spent the morning doing.

I make my way down to the fairly busy cafeteria, carrying my packed lunch. I still feel it amazing that animals like hedgehogs, who eat worms in the wild, can eat hamburgers with such gusto.

I sit down at a free table. In no time at all, I'm joined by my four best friends: Piper the Platypus, Mayfair the Cat, Lennie the Chameleon, and Nick the Egret (that's a kind of small bird—look it up if you're interested). All five of us trained together for four years.

Our conversation quickly turns to SOs.

"My SO is pretty cool," Lennie says, taking a bite of his lasagne. For some reason, that chameleon loves pasta foods. When we first began our training, Lennie literally took ten minutes deciding whether he wanted lasagne or macaroni cheese. "Victoria the Dalmatian. She says she's going to teach me how to hack."

"That is a useful skill," I agree, swallowing a mouthful of my egg and cress sandwich. "Whereas my SO took me to my office, dumped me there, and show his face again, apart from a five second appearance during which he gave me some forms."

"My brother can be like that," Piper says, stuffing a couple of fries into her mouth. "So can Sam. Just ignore him."

"I can't, Pipes," I point out. "He's my SO."

"Ignore _it_ , then," amends Piper. "Ignore his attitude and focus on the learning."

"If he ever gets around to teaching me anything," I mumble into my packed lunch.

"Well, Rover was really nice," Mayfair says. "Incredibly nice. He was patient with all my questions."

Rover must be the bulldog agent I didn't recognise earlier. I scoff. "The dog's name is _Rover?"_

"That's what I said," says Mayfair, stealing a couple of Piper's fries. She didn't get anything for herself; she's on this weird diet that dictates that she has to skip lunch. "Apparently his owners thought he was a really big pug and named him that."

I burst out laughing. "That's ridiculous. Poor dog."

"If you ask me," Nick begins, digging into his hamburger. "They must give the bad SOs to the egg-laying creatures."

Because Nick's so small, he stands on the bench and his head is in the position that everyone else's arms are in. His beak is only just able to eat his food.

"I'm an egg-laying mammal," Piper points out. "And I have Kimi, who's really nice."

"Okay…um…male egg-laying creatures then," amends Nick. "Because I got James the Hooper as my SO."

"Well, I know he dislikes platypuses," I tell my friend. "He doesn't especially like my family, but what makes him a bad SO?"

"He's really cold," Nick explains. "I don't think he likes egrets either, for some reason."

"Childhood trauma," I suggest. "Bitten by an egret when he was a kid."

This earns me a laugh from my friends. I've always been the joker in our group, and it makes me feel warm inside when I say something funny and they laugh.

I happen to glance at Mayfair and find her staring at me with her head resting on her paws and a beaming smile on her face. I awkwardly look down at my empty plate. I suspect that Mayfair has a crush on me. It's not that I don't like her. I do. It's just that…well…I don't know if I feel that way about her. And I don't mean that in the way that people often mean, like they really do know that they don't feel that way about the person. I honestly don't know. Sometimes I think I have a crush on her but other times I see her just as a friend. Sometimes I think I have a crush on Piper too, but that also comes and goes, and if Piper shares any of these feelings, she never gives any signs. But that might only be because she's extremely good at hiding her emotions. If she doesn't want you to know what she's feeling, you will never know. Maybe I'm flattering myself…? This is making my head hurt just thinking about it. I'll stop thinking about it now.

 **Piper's POV**

I notice the attention that Mayfair's giving Teddy. It's almost sad how obvious it is. I'm not one to be mean, but the next time Mayfair's on her own, I _need_ to let her know how pathetic she's being. In the most polite terms possible, of course. It's getting really painful for me, and I can see Lennie and Nick exchanging looks. They've noticed too. I give them a look, like, _can you believe this?_

 **Teddy's POV**

Finally, Piper breaks the silence. "Lunch is gonna be finished soon." She stands up and offers her last couple of fries to Mayfair. "We should get back to our offices."

"Do you think all our offices are the same?" asks Nick.

I grin. "No, I'm sure yours is different because you're a very different agent, little egret."

Nick gives me a kick. With his spindly little legs, though, a kick from him is only about as painful as a nudge with an elbow. That's Nick's equivalent to a nudge. "Okay, wise guy. I just wanted to know how you guys are going to decorate your cubicles."

"I've already put photos up in mine," I say. "And I'm saving room for my PFT poster."

"Don't you _know_ PFT personally?" Piper points out.

I shrug. "Sure, but that's not the point. The point is: they're awesome. And if they're awesome, their poster is going up on my wall."

Piper throws an unmistakable look of scorn at Mayfair. "Boys will be boys," she mutters.

The vacant look is back on Mayfair's face and she stares at me again. "Some are different."

"Oo-kay."

I cover my embarrassment by taking my plate back to the serving hatch. As I do, I can't help wondering if Luke will come back this afternoon. Part of me wants to do some training, but another part of me doesn't want to see his disapproving, hate-filled gaze.

…

 **SOOOOO did you guys like the Priya/Pearl bonding? Also, I just introduced three new OCs (Lennie, Mayfair, and Nick) so how do you like them?** _ **Did**_ **you like them? Now who do you think Teddy's three love interests could be?**


	4. A Torturous Grudge

**This is going to be a Luke-centric chapter :D because I like Luke and he is fascinating at the moment. This chapter will delve a bit more into why he hates Perry. Also it will be one of the only chapters to include just one POV.**

…

 **Luke's POV**

I'm training harder than I ever have before. I'm alone in the gym; everybody else is working. I know I should be too, after all, I have a new apprentice to train, but I can't help it. The gym draws me by taunting me, saying I don't want to get better, that I don't want to improve my skills.

" _I'd imagine that it's only been about three or four minutes since we disappeared."_

I attack the punching bag with as much strength as I can without breaking it, the words of the holographic message echoing in my mind.

" _Well here it's been three and a half years. We have a new arrival."_

I deliver the punching bag a hard kick, pretending it's Perry the Platypus.

" _Mom! Have you seen my hairbrush?"_

Perry the Platypus, who didn't stop my parents' deaths when he absolutely could have.

" _Hon, could you come here a minute?"_

And I had a sibling…I say "had" because she's dead now…on another world…she grew years older than me in just an hour, and she's dead now…

" _Mom, what's this?"_

I yell in anger as I increase the force with which I attack the bag.

" _This is a message for our friends on another world. You know, your siblings that we told you about."_

"Our friends on another world," I mutter bitterly, punching the bag again. "Perry the Platypus was no friend to you."

" _Oh, right. Hi siblings! I'm Lily. Mom and Dad told me about you: Sam, Luke, and Piper. I wish I could meet you, but I don't think I ever will."_

"You're dead, Lily," I spit at the punching bag. "You died years and years ago. There's no way you're alive now. Your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren are all dead. Spoiler alert, _Lily_ , but you never do meet us, and I'm glad you don't! Why do _you_ get to spend your whole life with our parents when I only got two years?"

" _We had her two years ago. In an hour on your earth, she'll be sixty-two years old."_

It took only ninety minutes for my sibling to be born and to die.

" _It's a little scary, but we had to act as if we were a new couple who had no children."_

Perry the Platypus, you will perish for what you did to my parents! You left us all parentless! You left Piper without a mother and father, and she was only a year old! Because of you, Mom and Dad never got to see any of us become agents of OWCA, as they would have wanted. I hate you!

"I HATE YOU!" I scream aloud. "I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!"

" _Sam, Luke, Piper, if you're watching this, I'm so sorry."_

With one almighty punch, the bag breaks apart and gets flung into the corner. I stand, breathing heavily, over the broken body of the punching bag. In my mind, it's not hard to turn the brown leather into Perry the Platypus's body.

"What the hell?" comes a voice from the doorway. "Luke…!"

I turn to face her, grief written all over my face. "I can't do this now, Pipes…"

"Jesus, Luke…!" she gasps, coming closer to me, her eyes taking in my state and the state of the punching bag. She takes hold of my hands, before I can pull them away, and turns them over. "You're bleeding!"

So I am. My knuckles are bleeding. Good. The pain reminds me why I'm so angry. "I'm fine," I say, taking my hands out of Piper's.

My little sister raises an eyebrow. "Like _hell_ you are!" she says shrilly. "You're beating yourself up!"

"No, the person I want to hurt is not myself," I say with a look of pure loathing at the punching bag.

Piper realises. She's smart. "Luke, Perry the Platypus is _not_ responsible for what happened to our parents!"

"That's what you believe," I say darkly.

She shakes her head with disbelief. "I always thought you were the rational one in our family. Sam's the musical guy, I'm the rebellious teen, and you're the sensible one who keeps both of us in check. What happened to that?"

"Perry the Platypus happened to that," I say, just as darkly. "Maybe he isn't responsible for it, but he could damn well have prevented it."

"What happened to our parents was not his fault!"

"Why do you keep calling it that?" I snap harshly at her. "Our parents are dead! Don't keep calling it "what happened to our parents" because it makes it seem like they are coming back but they are never coming back!"

"I KNOW!" shrieks Piper suddenly. "YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT? I'M TRYING TO BE TACTFUL BUT IT'S SO HARD BECAUSE I MISS THEM SO MUCH! EVERY NIGHT FOR THREE YEARS I CRIED MYSELF TO SLEEP BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE MOM TO TUCK ME IN OR DAD TO READ ME A BEDTIME STORY!" She nearly cries but she just about holds it together. "It's not Perry's fault," she says. "But even if you think it is, you can't take it out on Teddy."

I roll my eyes. "And there it is. I _knew_ you didn't come here to check on me. You came to tell me to not be so harsh to your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

She blushes slightly. Not much, but noticeably. That's how I know I've gone too far. She never wears her heart on her sleeve unless something really, really, really, REALLY upsets her. The guilt calms me down. "I'm so sorry," I say. "I shouldn't have pushed you so far."

She shakes her head, a couple of tears falling down her face. "It's not that," she says quietly. "It's the fact that it's Teddy's first day as an OWCA agent. Lennie, Mayfair, and I all had nice stories to share about our SOs. The first thing he said about you was that you "dumped" him in his office and left him."

"Well, that is what I did," I admit fairly.

She glares. "That's not helping. The point is: you can't just take out your anger at Perry on Teddy. I know he's Perry's son but he's not his dad. He wasn't even there. You can be as cold as you like around him, but don't treat him any differently as if it were anybody else as your apprentice."

I look at my little sister. She's eight and a half years old but wise for her age. She was forced to grow up quickly. Sam was already coming to the end of his childhood when Mom and Dad died. I was too, but to a lesser extent. Piper was still very much a child when they died. "You're too wise," I say, stroking her cheek. "Grow down."

She knocks away my hand with a slight smile on her face. "Just promise me you'll try and be better with Teddy."

"I can't, really," I say honestly.

"If you don't, I won't talk to you again."

I roll my eyes again. "Okay, I'll try and be nicer."

"I don't want you wasting his probation period because you have a grudge. If he comes to me at any point and complains that he's not learning anything from you…"

She gives me a glare that eliminates any need for her to finish her sentence. "You won't talk to me again?" I guess.

"There's more than one way to make someone's life a living hell," Piper says ominously.

That's what I love about my sister: she can go from "ooh look a pretty rainbow!" to "I will make you wish you were in hell," in about three seconds.

"I believe you," I tell her.

Making the "I'm watching you" signal, Piper leaves the gym, leaving me alone. I will try to be nice to Teddy, but I have a nasty feeling it's not that simple. As Carl announced that I was his SO, I tried to convince myself that Teddy was not guilty, that he was a nice guy. I convinced myself that I would be nice to him. But as soon as he started asking me questions, he was suddenly the most irritating and annoying thing on the planet. I have a feeling that, regardless of how many times Piper talks to me about it, Teddy's probation period _is_ going to be a living hell.

…

 **So what do you think? Do you like Luke more? Hate him more? Feel sorry for him? Think he should grow up and not be as much of a jerk to Teddy? I hope this look inside Luke's head was insightful I:} (devil face emoticon learned from Nightflame203)**


	5. Office Drama

**And now some more Teddy :)**

 **Teddy's POV**

I go the rest of the day without seeing Luke. When I get home, I tell Mom and Dad about my day. They seem really excited. Hazel is jealous of me; because of her age, she won't finish her training until next year. She and I visit the egg together. I'm really excited that I'm going to be an older brother for the second time. Hazel's excited that she won't be the youngest anymore.

The next morning when I get to work, I find that Luke has dropped off some paperwork, which I do. When I finish that, I still have two hours until lunch and nothing to do in them so I go find someone to talk to. Lennie and Mayfair are not in their office cubicles—their names are by the entrance so that's how I know whose office is whose—but Nick is. He's perching on his desk, which I find kinda funny. He has this massive office chair but he can't sit in it or he wouldn't be able to reach the computer. He's typing on the computer with his beak, one letter every four seconds or so. It's actually quite funny.

He looks at me as I come in. "I really don't like office work," he says grumpily.

"I prefer being out in the field too," I tell him.

"I never said anything about the field. I just don't like being in an office where the chair's too big for me but standing on the desk is tiring. Plus, paperwork has never been my forte."

"So where's your SO?" I ask, my interest with this conversation rapidly declining.

"Buggered off somewhere," Nick replies. "I don't know where."

He continues typing.

"So we've both been abandoned by our supervising officers," I say, dramatically picking up Nick's waste paper bin and looking at it as if it was the love of my life.

"Stop messing about," Nick says without turning round.

"I'm not messing about," I say, just as I accidentally drop the waste paper basket. I wince as it crashes loudly on the floor.

Nick glares at me. "Ted, I'm trying to file a complaint."

"Ooh!" My interest is back. "A complaint against who?"

"You."

I study my friend. He still has a grumpy look on his face and he doesn't seem to be in a jokey mood but what could I have done to make him file a complaint against me? I ask that question.

"I'm joking, Ted. _Have_ you done anything complaint-worthy to me?"

"I don't know," I say fairly, shrugging. "I might have done. My brain's wired differently to yours. I can't tell if something that seems fine to me is bad to you."

"You haven't done anything. I'm complaining about a female dog who I bumped into in the corridor an hour ago when I went to the toilet."

"Ooh, juicy goss. I love gossip, me. What's the dirt?"

Nick glares at me again. "Are you capable of not being weird?"

I shake my head. "Nope. Your brain thinks _good morning_ , my brain thinks _welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."_

"I retract my question. You clearly are _not_ capable of not being weird. And in answer to _your_ question, I'm complaining because of her conduct when we bumped into each other."

"Ah, but surely chance meetings are a place where conduct is not important?"

Yes, sometimes even I have no idea what I'm talking about. I just like confusing others.

Nick does look confused for a moment before he realises. "No, I don t mean "bumped into each other" as in "met by chance", I mean we accidentally walked into each other. She was really rude to me. She kept cursing at me, even though it was her fault too, not just mine. She also almost flattened me and her way of apologising was funny. It sounded almost like swearing."

"Aww, could your little brain not stand all that profanity?" I tease.

Nick glares at me for the third time. "If you're not going to be sympathetic, then you better leave."

"Okay, okay, I can be sympathetic. I shall let out a stream of insults towards the dog agent and then I shall go and slap her for being so rude to you."

Nick rolls his eyes. "The sarcasm makes it worse."

"That's what I thought," I smirk. "I am glad you're acknowledging that sarcasm is not pleasant when one is looking for sympathy."

"You're not normal."

I give a flourishing bow. "Thank you."

 **Nick's POV**

Sometimes I don't know how I put up with Teddy. I suppose it's because he's really a nice person underneath the layers of weirdness, sass, and humour. He is really funny. Case in point:

I turn to him. "What's the weirdest way to say "good morning" that you would actually say to somebody?"

""Hello, are you a fellow time traveller? Well, I went to sleep last night and I woke up one day in the future. How about you?"" replies Teddy instantly.

I can't help laughing. "You really are the weirdest person on this planet. You should actually use that the next time someone says "good morning" to you."

"Okay."

Teddy leaves the cubicle. I fly onto the wall of the cubicle and watch him go, confused. Pretty soon, a frog agent passes Teddy with a "morning" to him.

"Hello, are you a fellow time traveller?" Teddy asks.

"Um…no…" the frog says, looking incredibly confused. "Are _you_ one?"

"Well, I went to sleep last night and I woke up one day in the future," Teddy says brightly. "How about you?"

"Uh, I guess you could describe sleeping like that…"

Teddy gives the agent a small salute and runs back into my cubicle, where the two of us burst out laughing. "That was the funniest thing ever!" I laugh. "Did you see his face?"

Teddy giggles. "He was so confused!"

Just then, we hear a commotion outside. We peak around the corner of the cubicle and see two people gearing up for an argument…

…

 **OOOOOOH who's it gonna be? Find out in the next chapter :)**


	6. More Drama

**This chapter's gonna be a busy one!**

…

 **Kimi's POV**

Luke's following me. "Leave me alone!" I snap, well aware that everyone can hear us in this public place.

"Kim, this isn't fair!" he protests. "I know we're both SOs now, but we can't give up on our relationship!"

I turn and face him. " _What_ relationship? Your relationship with your job? That's all you care about, Luke! And you don't even care about that!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're not taking your duties as an SO very responsibly, are you?"

"Why would you…?" He pauses. "Piper?"

"Piper," I confirm. "But only because I'm her SO and she knows about our relationship. She said she talked to you yesterday but nothing seemed to get through."

"That's harsh," he comments. "That's really harsh."

"True, though!" I raised my voice. "Nothing ever gets through to you! Like how about when you cancelled three dates in a row because you were "working" and then Piper found you in the gym, pushing yourself past your physical limits!"

Luke pauses, sheepish. "She told you about that?"

"Absolutely," I snap. "She also told me how you blame Perry the Platypus for your parents' deaths."

"Well…" Luke has the good grace to look uncomfortable.

"I'm not going to tell you what to believe. All I'm telling you is to not take it out on Teddy."

This flares Luke up. "Oh for crying out loud! What _is_ it with everybody and Teddy? He hasn't done anything great yet! People only like him because he's Perry the Platypus's son! He isn't even a proper agent yet! Whereas agents like me can do ten missions a month and get nothing more than a "good job Luke" and a couple dollar bonus at the end of the month because our parents aren't OWCA's top agent!"

"AGH!" I can't take it anymore. I lash out with my paw and slap Luke round the face. He recoils and stares at me, more in shock than in pain. "Grow _up_ , Luke!"

I storm away, leaving Luke standing in the corridor.

 **Teddy's POV**

I turn away from looking at Luke and slump down against the wall in Nick's office, stunned at what I just saw and heard. I raise my paw to my forehead to stem the sudden headache that has attacked me. Nick, who's perching on the wall, looks down at me. "Are you okay?" he asks concernedly.

"I-I don't know, Nick…"

Hearing Luke say those things about me really hurts, all the more because I know it's true. It's true that I am popular but it's even more true that it's probably only because I'm the son of OWCA's top agent. I haven't done anything great yet. I'm not even a real agent yet. I'm still on probation. I feel a couple of tears drop down my cheeks.

I miss Nick's glare but I hear him snap, "That's it. Nobody makes my friends cry."

I quickly clear my vision in time to leap up and grab Nick's foot as he takes off. "No, please don't. You'll make it worse."

Nick looks down at me with a sad expression. "You're too good, Ted. If he was talking about me, I'd fly over there and give him a piece of my mind."

I shake my head sadly as I let go of his foot and slump back down against the wall. "He's my SO," I say. "Whether either of us like it or not, he's got to train me for the next six months. And even if he hates me through that time and doesn't train me properly, I'll still try my absolute hardest to be OWCA's next best agent so people can like me because of that and not because of who my parents are."

Nick shakes his head just as the bell signifying lunchtime goes. "OWCA doesn't deserve you," he tells me. "And you don't deserve to have an awful person like Luke training you."

"Just let it go, Nick," I say wearily, getting to my feet. "Come on. It's lunchtime."

 **Mayfair's POV**

Teddy looks depressed at lunch, though he continually makes jokes and sassy remarks as usual. I can't help watching him as he chats with Piper and Lennie. In a whisper, Nick tells me about the argument between Piper's SO and Teddy's SO. It makes me feel sad; that Teddy can hear someone can talk about him so badly and still have a smile on his face.

He leaves lunch early. He stands up, puts his tray away, and leaves the cafeteria. I stand up and go after him. He's striding away. I run to catch up. "Teddy!" I call.

He stops but doesn't turn his head. "What is it, Mayfair?"

"Call me May," I tell him without thinking.

I hate people calling me May. I don't know why but it makes me mad. Only my Mom and Dad can call me May without me getting irritated. However, I must like Teddy more than I originally thought if I automatically told him to call me May.

"In the four years I've known you, you've never asked me to call you May," Teddy states, his eyes narrowed.

"I know. But that's not why I chased you out here."

"Okay, so why _did_ you chase me into the corridor?" he asks.

"I really like you," I blurt out. "And I don't like seeing you upset. If there's anything I can do to help, just tell me."

He smiles. "Thanks, May. And thanks for being the first person I've told who doesn't immediately offer to go beat Luke up."

"Lennie and Piper, huh?"

" _And_ Nick," sighs Teddy. "I just want to forget the whole incident."

I step closer to him. Our faces are half a metre away from each other. "I won't remind you of it then."

I really want to kiss him. It looks like Teddy wants to kiss me too. But I hesitate. I don't know which would be worse: misreading the signs and kissing him when he didn't want me to, or reading the signs correctly but not kissing him when I have the chance because I second guess the signs. I lean in. It's a safe move: if Teddy does want to kiss me, he will. If he doesn't, then he'll pull away and I won't make a horrible mistake. But which will he do?

I only have to wait about three seconds before I get my answer.

…

 **WHAT IS IT? WHAT HAPPENS? DO THEY KISS OR NOT? You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out ;P Do you think Mayfair is one of Teddy's three love interests?**

 **Also, what about Luke? Do you hate him** _ **even more**_ **now? And what about poor Teddy? Leave a review!**


	7. The Wake Of The Intimacy

**The wait is over! Prepare…**

…

 **Perry's POV**

At the end of Day 2 with the egg, I come home to find Priya and Hazel practically shaking Teddy for information. "What's all this?" I ask as I come into the living room.

"TEDDY HAS A GIRLFRIEND!" shrieked Hazel.

 _"_ _What?"_

Teddy glares at Hazel. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Who isn't?" I ask.

Teddy sighs. "Mayfair the Cat."

"Harry and Karen's oldest," Priya tells me.

"What happened today?" I ask Teddy. "Why does Hazel think Mayfair's your girlfriend?"

"Wemighthavekissed," mumbles Teddy quickly.

"What was that?"

Priya grins at me. "Our little boy had his first kiss with Mayfair today."

"Mom!" complains Teddy.

"Aww." I grin and ruffle my son's head. "That's great, Teddy."

"No it isn't!" Teddy shouts to our surprise. "Don't you see?"

"See what?" Priya asks.

"I'm trying to pretend it didn't happen!" Teddy stands up. "I like her but I'm not sure if I like her in that way. I can't even say her name now! It's made things really awkward between us!"

"But why?" I ask.

"I just explained!" Teddy shakes his head. "Never mind. I knew you wouldn't understand."

He storms out of the room. "Teddy!" calls Priya. We hear his footsteps go up the stairs. "I don't know why he's acting like this," she tells me. "He told us when he got home but he seemed okay at the time."

I stare at the door that Teddy just went through, wondering if my son had a bad day.

 **Teddy's POV**

I slam the door to my room and flop onto my bed. I don't know what to do. My emotions are in turmoil. Mayfair kissed me! Now what do I do? It's made things so awkward. I couldn't look at her after it happened. She seemed really upset but when she ran off, I couldn't go after her. I don't know where she went but my body physically didn't want to after her.

Someone's knocking on the door. "Teddy? It's Dad."

"What?" I call.

He comes in and sits beside me on the bed. "Was your day all right apart from the Mayfair incident?"

"Peachy," I say bitterly.

"Teddy, you can tell me. I've had plenty of bad days."

"Who said I had a bad day?"

"Teddy…"

"Fine."

I tell him about my day, from the argument I heard between Kimi and Luke, to my conflicting emotions towards Mayfair. However, I don't mention that Luke blames Dad for what happened to Ohio and India. When I finish, Dad looks angry.

"There is no call for Luke to treat you like that," he says crossly. "He didn't even talk to you today?"

"Apart from the argument he had with Kimi, I didn't see him either. I didn't have anything to do this afternoon so I went to the gym and trained."

"At least you didn't do nothing," Dad says, but he still looks cross. "I need to talk to Luke."

"Don't!" I say, alarmed. "Please don't. It'll make things worse."

Why does everybody keep saying they'll talk to or beat up Luke? It's not going to help! Why can't people just be sympathetic and then leave me alone?

Dad eyes me. "Is there another reason you don't want me to talk to Luke?" he asks.

"No," I lie. "Not particularly." His frown in my direction annoys me so much that I snap, "Apart from the fact that he hates you for ruining his life."

Dad blinks. "Where'd _that_ come from?"

"He thinks you could have prevented his parents' deaths."

Dad blanches. I fully remember for the first time that Dad was friends with Ohio and India, Luke and Piper's parents. It must have been horrible, watching them die. "They died heroes," Dad says quietly. "That's what Luke doesn't seem to get. If they died needlessly, I'm sure I'd understand his rage. But they died to save thousands and thousands of people, including Luke and his siblings. They made the decision they did out of love."

"Well, he doesn't see it that way…"

…

 **Short-ish chapter but what did you think?**


	8. Finally, Some Training

**We're finally getting some more Teddy/Piper friendship in this chapter :)**

…

 **Luke's POV**

When I get to work the next day, still stinging from my argument with Kimi, I decide to finally take her and Piper's advice. I go to Teddy's office cubicle to find him slouching in his chair, head back, staring at the ceiling, one hand typing random letters into a word document on the computer, and the other hand playing with a piece of paper in the waste paper bin. He sees me and jumps up. "Aha! The hermit graces me with his presence."

And just like that, he again becomes the most irritating thing in the world to me.

 **Teddy's POV**

I get some satisfaction in seeing Luke glare, but I don't give him a chance to say anything. I stand up, save the word document for some reason, and go up to him. "Are we going to do some training?"

"Uh, yes, yes we are. We're going down to the gym today."

"Finally!" I do an exaggerated leap for joy and accidentally land with one of my feet in the waste paper bin, which makes me fall over. This makes the bin fly off my foot and hit Luke in the head. My SO glares down at me, a bump growing on his head. "I apologise for my clumsiness," I say formally, though I see Luke's eye twitch. "Please don't punish me."

Luke just turns and storms off with a, "just come on," back to me. Glad I hadn't destroyed my chances of doing actual training, I hurriedly follow.

 **Piper's POV**

I'm training on the trampoline. It's a bit unusual but I need to work on my skills. I do backflips to back drops, backflips to seat drops, and all sorts of aerial tricks. Aerial is where you do a trick without using your hands, e.g. a cartwheel.

"Do an aerial cartwheel into a seat drop," Kimi calls.

I put my arms at my sides, do the aerial cartwheel, and flip over at the end into a seat drop, which jump up and end with my arms in the air.

"That's very good," calls my SO approvingly.

Then I see one of my best friends and my brother come into the gym. I stop on the trampoline and stare as they go to the sparring ring. Kimi turns as she notices where I'm staring. Her gaze goes dark as she looks at her boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend, as the case may be; she told me about her argument with him. Whereas I'm just glad Luke's doing anything with Teddy. Teddy gets into the sparring ring with Luke, and I'm suddenly extremely worried that Luke's using this as an opportunity to beat Teddy up.

Kimi seems to have the exact same thought at the exact same time. She quickly hurries up to the ring. I get down safely from the trampoline and follow. My SO says to Luke, "How about Teddy and Piper spar with each other? They're more or less of the same ability."

Luke doesn't look happy but I deliberately fold my arms and glare at my brother, and he gives in. As I get into the ring and Luke gets out, Teddy whispers, "Thank you."

 **Teddy's POV**

When Luke took me straight to the boxing ring, I'll admit I was terrified. I knew Luke would use this as an opportunity to really take his anger out on me. I almost fainted with relief when Kimi volunteered Piper to fight me instead.

Kimi sounds the bell. I remember a technique my dad taught me for defence, and this is the technique I adopt now. I notice that Piper does what my mom does: she jumps and leaps all over the place when she's attacking. I keep mostly still and move according to where Piper sends the attack from, blocking her attacks mostly with my arms, but then I find that my tail is great for defending as well as attacking.

Kimi rings the bell to signify a break. I didn't even realise that we'd been sparring for ten minutes already. As Piper takes a break, I glance at Luke. He's looking slightly disappointed, as if he wanted Piper to beat me up. I give him a slight smirk.

"Want to go on the trampoline?" Piper asks me.

I look at Luke, who makes a "hmph" sound.

I address Piper: "I'd love to."

She climbs up onto one of the trampolines and I climb on the other. "Let's do the same routine," she suggests.

I nod. "Okay. What routine should we do?"

Piper thinks for a moment and then calls her SO over. "Kimi, can you call out a random routine for us?"

We start bouncing. The routine goes as follows:

 _Seat drop half twist to seat drop (Swivel hips)_

 _Tuck jump_

 _Back somersault to back drop_

 _Back drop half twist to back drop (cradle)_

 _Front somersault into front drop_

 _Seat drop full twist to front drop (roller)_

 _Aerial cartwheel into seat drop_

 _Straddle jump_

 _Straight jump and stop_

We stop at exactly the same time. We grin at each other before, breathing heavily, we turn to face our SOs. Both Kimi and Luke are staring at us. "What?" Piper asks.

"You did all those moves perfectly," Luke replies. He grudgingly adds, "Both of you."

"Not only that, but you were perfectly in sync for all of it," Kimi contributes, her mouth wide open. "It was so beautiful, and I have no idea how you did it."

Piper and I smile at each other.

"Take five," Kimi says, holding up five fingers. "Then we can do some work on dancing."

 **Piper's POV**

I think I've heard her wrong. "Dancing?" I repeat.

"All OWCA agents need to know how to dance," Luke says statically. "Ballroom and Latin."

I notice that Kimi gives Luke a scathing look. "A certain selection of ballroom and Latin," she amends him. "The two dances we focus on are the waltz for ballroom and the samba for Latin. Both require a partner."

"This'll be fun," I say to Teddy, who grins back at me.

…

 **Who else can imagine Teddy dancing? Well, that's exactly what we're going to see in the next chapter! Luke's a little mellower in this chapter, but he still doesn't like Teddy much XD also if anybody doesn't get the trampolining terms, like seat drop and front drop and stuff, then either look it up or leave a review and I'll explain it :)**


	9. Mayfair's Mistake

**And now an ultra-short chapter delving into our little cat friend's life…of course I mean Mayfair :) This chapter takes place the evening after the kiss. Sorry for the time travel bit :/**

…

 **Mayfair's POV, the evening after the kiss**

I'm lying curled up on my bed, thinking about what I did. I can't believe I was so stupid. I did the worse of the two options: I misread the signs and kissed Teddy when he didn't want me to. The look on his face when I pulled away was the worst thing I have ever seen. It felt like I was stabbed in the gut. In fact, it felt not only like I had been stabbed, but that the blade was serrated and being twisted in my stomach to make it hurt more. It may seem dramatic but it's true. The boy I love now hates me or…maybe worse…can't stand to be around me.

Someone knocks on the door to my room. "May, have you seen my favourite teddy bear?" calls the voice of my little brother.

That just makes me howl into my pillow. Parker comes into the room, looking at me confusedly. "Is something wrong?"

I stop crying and sit up. My fur is all over the place, my face is completely wet, and there are bags under my eyes. "No. Why do you ask?"

Parker pauses. "Well, you were sobbing like crazy into your pillow a few seconds ago."

"That was sarcasm." I turn over and wrap myself in my duvet. "Go away."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." My five-year-old hyena brother parks (pun entirely intended) himself on my bed.

Still wrapped in my duvet, I turn and look at him. "I made such a bad mistake today, Parks."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I actually do. Mom and Dad wouldn't understand. Maybe Parker would. "You know that boy, Teddy, that I've been talking about to you for a while?"

"You mean the one that you have a massive crush on?"

"Yes," I say, wincing slightly at his brutal question. "Well, I kissed him today."

"Oh my gosh, you have to tell me everything!" Parker says enthusiastically, before he realises that something must have gone wrong or I'd be as ecstatic as he is. "Oh…by your current state, I'm guessing it didn't go too well?"

"No!" I wail. "I thought I was reading the signs right, I thought he wanted to kiss me, but you should have seen the look he gave me afterwards! He totally hates me now!"

Parker bites his lip sympathetically. "That sounds bad," he comments.

I bury my head in my pillow, muffling my next words. "Oh god, what am I going to do? I can't face Teddy now! It's going to be so bad, I won't ever be able to talk to him again!"

Parker pats my shoulder sympathetically. "Mom made macaroons, your favourite. Want me to snaffle one for you?"

I manage a smile. "Thanks, Parker. That would be nice."

Parker leaps off the bed and runs out of the room. Sometimes it's nice to have a little brother who looks up to you and practically worships you.

…

 **Aww poor Mayfair :'( but also I do like Parker :) Mayfair's a purple cat by the way. She inherited her mother's species and her father's fur colour, whereas Parker's a yellow hyena; he inherited his father's species and his mother's fur colour.**


	10. Can I Have This Dance?

**Get ready for some drama and some romance brewing :)**

…

 **Piper's POV**

Teddy and I sit down at the edge of the gym, with our water bottles and our backs against the wall. "So…" Teddy says after a while. "Dancing."

"I've never danced before," I confess.

"Me neither," admits Teddy. "Hopefully it won't be too hard."

We both look across the gym, where Luke is testing the music. The 3-beat music blasts out, followed by a short pause, followed by lively, upbeat fiesta music.

"Likelihood of messing up steps?" I ask.

"88%."

"Likelihood of getting dance steps from the two different types of dances mixed up?"

"68%."

"Likelihood of us completely messing up both dances?"

"15%."

"Really?" I look over at Teddy. "Oh, well, that's a little more uplifting."

"Break's over, guys," calls Kimi. "Come over here."

And with that, the dancing begins.

 **Teddy's POV**

Teaching the samba takes a while. Kimi shows us the steps while Luke controls the music. Piper gets it immediately but I have trouble. I love the festival feeling and music but the steps are too fast for me.

Soon, we move onto the waltz. Kimi takes our wrists and pulls us together. Luke immediately says, "Kim, shouldn't Luke dance with you and Piper with me?"

"What's wrong with…?" She trails off. She realises as the same time as me. Luke doesn't want me and Piper dancing together. So that's exactly why Kimi says, "No, it's fine. Again, they're the same height and ability."

Looking murderous, Luke backs up. Kimi puts my hand on Piper's waist and Piper's hand on my shoulder. As she watches Kimi make our other hands clasp, I look into Piper's eyes. I've only just noticed that they're deep emerald green shade. She notices me looking at her and she smiles. I smile back and we both sneak a glance at Luke, who's looking like he's not sure if he wants to kill Kimi or me first. Piper and I exchange a grin. We haven't even started dancing yet, and Luke already looks like he's going to commit murder.

Kimi signals to Luke to start the music, which he does. A slow, three-beat melody plays from it. Kimi directs us with the steps, but it's much easier than the samba, and we soon get it. We gracefully waltz around the room, not looking away from each other's eyes. Soon, we both get lose in the music. It seems like we're the only two people in the world. Luke is going to murder me for this, but just as the music ends, I dip Piper gently and we touch foreheads. I hear Kimi applaud. I quickly look towards Luke to make sure that he isn't coming to kill me. He isn't, but the look on his face clearly indicates that he's going to kill me later.

But I find that I don't care.

Kimi runs over to us. "Are you sure you've never done the waltz before?" she demands.

"Yeah, why?" Piper asks.

"Was it good?" I ask.

"Good?" repeats Kimi. "It was brilliant! It was beautiful, the way you were dancing. As if you were the only two people in the world."

"That's how I felt," Piper says with a glance at me.

"Me too," I agree.

"You should enter this year's OWCA's Got Talent show! Auditions are this Thursday. What do you think?"

Piper and I glance at each other. Piper answers for both of us: "That sounds fun. What should we do?"

"You could do a little bit of samba for the audition," Kimi muses. "Then do exactly that waltz in the final show."

"That's if we get in," I point out.

Piper nudges me. "We will," she says. "Of course, that's if we do enter. Should we?"

I nod. "Sounds fun. Maybe we'll even win."

At that point, Luke strides forwards. He snorts. "Of course you won't win. You probably won't even make it to the final."

"That sounds like a challenge," I say snidely.

"What's the first place prize?" Piper asks Kimi.

"A trip to Otto H. Adjacent Water Park," replies Kimi. "With no waiting in lines."

Piper gasps and turns to me. "We _have_ to win."

"I just want to win so I can prove your brother wrong," I say, jerking my thumb at Luke, who scowls at me.

"I have _always_ wanted to go to Otto H. Adjacent Water Park!" enthuses Piper.

"You've always wanted to go there with our parents," Luke snaps nastily. "Well, thanks to a certain platypus's dad, that isn't going to happen, is it?"

Piper recoils like she's been punched in the gut. I put my arm around her.

"WHY IS EVERYTHING YOU SAY COMPLETELY HORRIBLE?" Kimi yells at Luke. "IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO SAY, DON'T SAY IT!"

I think even Luke realises he went too far. He attempts to apologise to Piper but she snaps at him, "You really want to apologise to me? Start being nicer around and to Teddy, and then I'll forgive you."

That makes me feel awkward. I don't want Luke and Piper to argue because of me.

 **Piper's POV**

I take Luke's wrist and drag him away from Teddy and Kimi. I twist his wrist and hiss, "I don't _care_ what problems you have with Teddy and I don't _care_ if you push yourself ridiculously in the gym after hours. What I _do_ care about is you taking it out on Teddy when he's around."

To my surprise, Luke snaps, "He was getting a bit close to you during that dance."

"It's a _waltz!"_ I snap. "We're _supposed_ to be close!"

"Don't think I didn't see your foreheads touching at the end," Luke snarls. "I'm not going to let anything romantic happen between you two."

I hide my blush very well. He doesn't see it. "For one thing, you can't tell me to do anything. For another, you're not doing a very good job. That little moment at the end of the waltz was quite romantic wasn't it? If anything romantic does happen, you're not going to be able to stop it."

He slaps me with such force that I fall to the floor.

 **Teddy's POV**

Even from a distance, I see it. My beak falls open. Piper begins crying. I run past Luke and to her side. She puts her arms around me and cries into my shoulder. Neither of us notice when Luke leaves the room. Kimi comes over to us. "That's it," she snarls. "I'm filing a complaint."

"Don't," Piper pleads, reaching out and clutching her SO's wrist. "It's not that big of a deal."

Kimi gently pulls Piper's head off my shoulder. "Hon, your face is really red."

I look too. It's true. Around the brown fur on Piper's is a big red mark. "You can't let him get away with that," I tell her. "Come on."

To my surprise, she turns on me. "I don't need your help!" she snaps.

She struggles to her feet and runs out of the gym. I watch her go, rather sad. Kimi puts her hand on my shoulder. "She's just speaking from her pain," she says.

I shake my head. "That's not just it. She's embarrassed because she's been caught with her emotions open. She's always so closed off. She hates that one slap from her brother makes her cry so heavily." I sigh. "Sometimes I think I have her all figured out and then she goes and does something that makes me wonder if I even know her at all…"

…

 **Pretty bittersweet chapter, huh? Who ships Teddy/Piper? I think every new chapter makes everyone hate Luke even more :/**


	11. Madeline

**Aaaaand enter a brand new character in a fairly short chapter:**

…

 **Madeline's POV**

For once, the gym is empty. Maybe that's because everybody else is working. I use the treadmills for half an hour, and I'm using the trampet (smaller trampoline) when someone enters. I don't notice, though. I'm practising my routine for the talent show. Since it's a small trampoline, I run towards it, jump onto it, and do a trick using the resulting bounce. Then I land and do it again from the other side. Because the trampet's so small, it can easily fit on the stage. I get to practise my routine once before I notice the person who's come in. She's my best friend.

"Oh, it's you," I say. I run, leap onto the trampet, do a flip, and land next to her, dramatically throwing my arms out. She laughs. "How's life?"

"I'm considering changing my name and moving to Moscow."

"That bad, huh?"

We have a code between us. When something bad happens, we say, "I'm considering changing my name and moving to _". The place we say depends on the magnitude of the bad thing. If it's just something small then we say "New York". If it's massive, we say "Moscow". The place's proximity to Danville increases with the progression of emergencies: New York, England, Africa, Moscow.

"Totally bad," Mayfair sighs. "Yesterday I kissed a boy that I fancy, Teddy, but it turns out he doesn't like me like that so now it's _super_ awkward."

I grimace. "That's bad."

"Yeah, it really is. I haven't seen him since then so I don't actually know how he's going to react when he sees me again."

She puts her arm around me and immediately pulls away with a yelp. "Sorry, your spine pricked me."

"Oh." I inspect my quill-filled shoulder. "Which one?"

"I don't _know!"_ She gives me a shove. "I sometimes forget you're an echidna."

"Well, don't forget it," I grin.

At that moment, a dark green-furred platypus enters the room. Mayfair turns, catches sight of him, and freezes. The platypus also freezes. The atmosphere suddenly becomes so thick, you could cut it with my one of my quills. Mayfair begins shaking so badly that I think she's having a panic attack. "Mayfair?"

"That's him," she whispers. "That's Teddy. Oh no…"

Teddy comes forward and approaches the two of us. As it looks like Mayfair's about to have a heart attack, I bound forward and hold out my hand to Teddy. "I'm Madeline the Echidna. Mayfair's my best friend."

 **Teddy's POV**

I shake Madeline's hand. "Nice to meet you." I turn to Mayfair, whose dark purple fur on her face has turned light purple. "Mayfair, I just want to get past what happened. You're one of my best friends, and I don't want things to change. Can we go back to how things were?"

Mayfair hesitates. Then she nods. "I'm so sorry for the incident. I really would like to go back to normal."

I nod. "Then wanna hang out with Lennie, Nick, Piper, and me later? We're going to the park."

Mayfair nods eagerly. "Oh, yes please!"

"Good." I'm relieved. I turn to Madeline, who's been following the conversation with interest. "Do you want to come?"

Madeline looks surprised. "Who, me?"

"Yeah. You're Mayfair's friend."

"Best friend," Mayfair corrects.

"Okay. Sure. I'd love to come."

…

 **Bit of a short chapter but we've met Madeline! Yay! Next chapter will be longer.**


	12. Things Heating Up

**More complications for Teddy in this chapter I:} Also we're going to see a slightly different side to Madeline :)**

…

 **Piper's POV**

I can't help feeling a little jealous when Teddy turns up at the park with two girls by his side. I hide it as best I can, though. After I snapped at him in the gym earlier today, I can't let him know he gets to me.

I'm lazing on the bench and when Teddy introduces Madeline the Echidna, I give her a quick once-over with my two unbothered eyes. I remember her from training; she's on probation like the rest of us. If I recall correctly, she's very athletic.

"Where's Nick?" asks Teddy.

Lennie, who's lying on the top of the bench, shrugs. "We don't know. It was just me and Piper here before you came."

"Maybe he thought we meant the underground park," Mayfair suggests.

"No, I specified the above ground park," Teddy frowns.

"Well, I'm sure he'll turn up," says Mayfair.

I don't miss the glance she shoots at Teddy. Then she looks nervously at me. Naturally I know about what went on between them. It makes me shudder but I supress the jealousy and give Mayfair a slightly bitter smile.

 **Teddy's POV**

I pick up on the awkwardness between Mayfair and Piper. I clap my hands deliberately and says, "Who wants to swim in the river?"

"Me!" shouts Madeline, diving straight into the river and disappearing underwater.

Piper scoffs, rolls her eyes, and spreads her arms over the top of the bench. I see that she isn't happy but for some reason I don't pay attention to her. I stare into the water. "Madeline?"

"I'm fine!" Madeline's head bobs up to the surface. "Come in! It's not cold!"

I take a deep breath and dive in. The low temperature of the water hits me instantly. "Hey!" I splutter, floundering around in the water.

"I lied!" Madeline sings, twirling around me.

As Madeline swims away from me, I dive underwater and swim as fast as I can towards Madeline. I gently take hold of Madeline's foot and yank. Startled, Madeline gets pulled underwater to face me. I grin a soggy grin at her and she can't help laughing underwater. After a few more moments, Madeline comes up for air, spluttering and panting. I swim to the bottom of the river, where a sparkly rock catches my eye. I pick it out of the mud and inspect it. It looks like a rose quartz but it's sapphire blue. I search around for anything else interesting.

 **Lennie's POV**

Teddy and his new friend—Madeline, was it?—disappear into the lake. "You can't get a river like this underground," I comment.

I look at Piper and notice her glaring at the river and grumbling to herself. "Pippy?" I say, using my own unique nickname for her.

"What?" She looks at me. "Oh, did you say something?"

"I said "Pippy" but other than that, no…" I'm slightly concerned about my friend. "Pip, are you…jealous?"

"What? No!" Piper flushes.

That makes me even more worried. She never shows her emotions. "Pip?"

She stares down at the ground. At that moment, the echidna breaks the surface and climbs onto the shore. As she wrings out her tail, she looks at Piper. "Are you Teddy's girlfriend?"

To my relief, Piper has composed herself. "Oh, no, we aren't going out," she replies.

Madeline smiles and glances towards the playground, where Mayfair is sitting alone on a swing, out of hearing. "Good. If Mayfair wasn't my best friend, I might just make a move on him. He's quite good looking. Maybe that's why you two aren't going out; he's too good for either you or Mayfair."

Piper stiffens. Her face becomes tight. With a sting of horror, I realise that Piper is about three seconds away from attacking the echidna. Knowing that that is the last thing Teddy needs right now, I flick my long tongue out about six inches from Madeline's face, startling the echidna and making her fall backwards into the river. The resulting splash gets both me and Piper wet, but my platypus friend tightly nods her thanks to me.

Madeline re-emerges from the river just before Teddy, who looks accusingly at me. "Did you push Maddy into the river?"

Instead of answering, I decide to argue with Teddy on Piper's behalf. "Oh, so it's "Maddy" now?"

"Don't be childish."

I skit to the end of the bench and glare up at my friend. "You're the one who's being childish. You came here to hang out with your group of friends, and the only one you're hanging out with is Madeline."

"None of you wanted to come in the river," Teddy said, shaking himself dry. "That's not her fault."

Piper stands up quietly. "I'm going to find Mayfair."

"She's right over there," Madeline says snootily, pointing at the swings.

Piper gives Madeline a death look and walks irritably away. I take a running jump and leap onto her shoulder. As I do, I make a "I'm watching you" gesture to Teddy, who looks confusedly back at me.

 **Teddy's POV**

I begin walking towards my friends with Madeline beside me. "How come my friends are being so sour?" I ask.

She shrugs. "Your girlfriend is feeling a bit uptight today."

"She's not my girlfriend," I say automatically, before I remember what passed between us when we were dancing. Maybe _she_ thinks we're boyfriend/girlfriend?

"That's too bad. What, is she not your type?"

"Um, I don't know…" I watch as Piper as on the swing next to Mayfair. "Man, I still feel awkward around Mayfair. I wonder if that'll ever go away."

At that moment, I catch sight of a small white shape flying overhead. I've seen that shape many times before. "Nick…?"

Piper and Mayfair see him as well. They simultaneously stand up and stare into the air. I stare too. Nick's flying too slowly, too sluggishly. And his height is dropping slowly. All of a sudden, he drops out of the air. Even from this distance, I hear Mayfair scream Nick's name. He's coming down fast, heading for the river. I run as fast as I can but I'm still too late to catch Nick as he crashes into the ground on the far side of the river. He rolls for a couple of seconds before he stops a few metres away from the river bank. I jump into the river, swim across, and leap out at the other side. I rush to my friend's side.

It is indeed Nick, and he's unconscious. Apart from the wounds he sustained from his crash landing, he doesn't look well. He has small red cuts all over his body and one of his wings is badly burned. He has a black eye and his right leg looks quite mangled. I pick him up in my arms and cradle him gently. I turn to face my friends, who have just crossed the river. Piper runs up to me. "What happened to him?" she gasps, looking worried.

I can't help feeling glad at her reaction. During our training, I found out that the only time she would ever show emotions is when one of her friends is in trouble. I'm glad that even though she's showing her emotions a little more often these days, her usual cycle of showing emotions is not completely reversed.

"I don't know," I reply quietly. "But he looks really hurt."

"His wing…" whispers Mayfair. "It looks really painful."

"We need to take him to Apollo," I tell my friends. "Quickly."

…

 **So what do you think happened to poor Nick? Why is Madeline being such a jerk towards Piper? Have we already met Teddy's three love interests or is a new contender going to be introduced? Find our next chapter :)**


	13. Mission Prep

**The wait is over! Author's Note: the next two chapters are going to be fairly short; I thought it was better to split up the action into two chapters rather than have it in one long one.**

…

 **Mayfair's POV**

We rush into the hospital wing with Teddy carrying Nick in my arms. Apollo Hastings is talking to one of the nurses but he turns as we come in.

"Apollo, Nick's hurt!" Teddy says hurriedly, holding out his arms to show the frail bird to the doctor. "We don't know what happened to him."

Apollo gently takes Nick from Teddy and places him on one of the metal tables. We back away as Apollo examines him.

After five anxious minutes, Apollo steps away from the table and turns towards us. "His wing is burned quite badly," he tells us. "His leg will take some time to mend, but otherwise his injuries are not bad. The black eyes and the cuts will heal in a few days."

"When will he wake up?" I ask, my arms pressed against my chest and my fists resting on either side of my chin.

"Well, his untreated injuries are probably giving him a lot of pain," Apollo replies with a sympathetic glance back at the operating table. "We've given him an anaesthetic until we can treat his wing and leg."

Then Teddy asks the question that I'm sure is on everybody's minds: "Will he be able to fly again?"

Apollo hesitates. "Most likely," he replies, to everyone's relief. "As long as there's no inflaming, there won't be any lasting damage."

He turns back to the operating table but his words are audible: "You can come back and visit him tomorrow morning."

We all simultaneously nod and walk slowly out of the hospital wing. Immediately, Piper's SO, Kimi, runs up to us. "Teddy, there you are. Luke's going on a mission and he wants you to join him."

…

 **Priya's POV**

Hazel's watching the egg. I'm downstairs with Victoria, Patty, and Karen the Cat, who was integrated into our group just before India died. We're sitting in the living room with tea and the cupcakes that Pearl made yesterday.

"These cakes are amazing," Victoria says, finishing a cake and reaching for her cup of tea. "Pearl is truly an amazing baker."

"Yes, yes she is," I smile.

At that moment, my daughter comes to the door and shyly says, "Mom?"

I put down my cup of tea. "Is everything okay, sweetheart?"

Hazel fidgets. She's always been shy in front of my friends. "I was just wondering if I could have a cupcake."

"Sure." I pass her the plate. Her hand snakes out, snatches two, and she quickly disappears upstairs. "Cheeky girl!" I mutter amusedly.

"How's Teddy's training going?" asks Patty.

"It's going fine. Why?"

"Well, Kimi told me the other day that she's having to put a lot of pressure on his supervising officer to actually do his job," Patty explains disapprovingly.

"Well…" I pause, feeling my friends' eyes on me. "Sure, there are difficulties at the moment, but it's only his fourth day on probation."

"If there are such big problems now, I dread to think of what problems could be occurring three months from now," comments Victoria, earning her murmurs of agreement from Patty and Karen.

"I'm sure the difficulties will be resolved soon," I say optimistically.

Pearl comes in at that moment, holding a teapot. "Anyone want more tea?"

Most of us politely decline but Karen, who's a tea-addict, smiles and holds out her cup. As Pearl pours more tea into it, she says, "I got a call from Perry a minute ago. He said he's going on a mission with Teddy's SO, who's invited Teddy along."

"Teddy's going on a mission already?" I ask worriedly as Pearl leaves the room.

Karen speaks for the first time. "Priy, Luke's invited Teddy on a mission with him. Surely that's a sign of things getting better?"

"I suppose…"

"Peter's gone on that mission too," Patty says.

"So has Harry," Karen adds.

"So's Pinky," inputs Victoria. "Well, at least Luke and Teddy will be fine with all those senior agents."

"I hope they will…" I mutter, more than a little worried about my mate and son.

"Everything will be fine," Patty reassures me. "It's a routine mission, nothing that any of them haven't done before, apart from Teddy of course. With five experience agents with him, Teddy will be absolutely fine."

…

 **Pearl's POV**

I go into Perry and Priya's room to find Hazel sitting on the bed, watching the egg and munching on a cupcake. She looks at me as I come in. "Did I hear you say Teddy's going on a mission?"

"Yes, and your dad," I say, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Oh, I'm not worried about Dad too much," Hazel says dismissively. "He's been on hundreds of missions before. I'm worried about Teddy because Luke's being horrible to him."

"He invited Teddy on the mission with him," I tell her, correctly assuming that Luke is my grandson's SO.

"He's probably hoping that Teddy will die so he won't have to be his SO anymore."

"Hazel!" I'm shocked. "That's a horrible thing to say! No matter what Luke thinks of Teddy, he's not going to take his apprentice on a mission, hoping that Teddy will die."

"I hope you're right," Hazel mutters. "For Teddy's sake."

…

 **Will the mission go well? Find out next chapter!**


	14. When A Mission Goes Wrong

**TIME FOR THE MISSION! WOO HOO!**

…

 **Teddy's POV**

I go alone to the mission preparation room, where I find Luke and, surprisingly, my dad. Luke's on one side of the room, packing kit into a backpack. Dad's on the other side of the room, doing much the same thing. I go in and Dad notices me. "Hey, Teddy."

"Hi Dad." I warily glance at Luke, who pointedly ignores both of us. "Are you going on this mission too?"

"Yes. We're part of a strike team. We're going to storm a house on the outskirts of Danville where an armed woman is holding five people hostage."

I feel a thrill fly up my spine. "That sounds both exciting and terrifying. My first mission and it's something extreme."

"Well, Luke obviously thinks you can handle this or he wouldn't invite you along."

"Or he's hoping I'll be shot," I mumble.

Dad doesn't hear. I go over to the other side of the room and sit down on the bench beside Luke, who's comparing two models of the same bazooka. That makes me slightly nervous at what we're going to be doing on this mission but I awkwardly say, "Thanks for inviting me on this mission."

I get a grunt from Luke as a reply.

"Kimi put you up to it, didn't she?"

Luke sighs and looks at me. "She encouraged but I made the final decision."

"Why? You hate me."

Luke throws a look of loathing over his shoulder. "You're not the one I have a problem with."

That's _it!_ I can't go on like this anymore. I grab Luke's wrist and pull him outside. "What the hell-?" he hisses.

I jab my finger into his chest. "Luke, you have _got_ to let your grudge go! What you don't seem to get is your parents died heroes! There was _nothing_ Dad could have done to stop them from sacrificing their own lives to save thousands and thousands of people, including my dad, you, and your siblings! It's not his fault! He's been haunted with nightmares ever since it happened! He thinks he could have saved Ohio and India, _you_ believe he could have saved them, but it seems like I'm the only one who can see that there was nothing anybody could have done! If it was Patty or Peter or Pinky in Dad's position, the outcome would have been _exactly_ the same! _That's_ what you don't seem to get!"

Luke's staring at me, completely silent, his facial expression hovering between shock and anger. I turn 90o and stomp back into the prep room. Dad looks at me as I come in. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's great, Dad," I say back. "Let's go on a mission."

…

Soon, we're there. It's the three of us, plus Dad's friends: Pinky, Harry, and Peter. We're hiding in the bushes outside the house. We can hear a child screaming. It chills me.

Dad turns to our group. "Okay, listen up. Pinky, Peter, and Harry, you three will take the house from the back and try to get to the hostages. Luke, Teddy, and I will storm the house from the front to draw the woman's fire. Got it?"

Everyone nods. Dad points with his index finger and middle finger towards the back of the house. Pinky, Peter, and Harry salute and disappear into the darkness.

"Remind me again why we're not wearing riot gear," I whisper.

"It'll be too loud and awkward to move in," Dad replies. "Okay, let's move out."

 **Luke's POV**

Perry, Teddy, and I carefully approach the most-likely-locked front door of the bungalow. We are dressed in black but it isn't riot gear. At this point, I really wish it is. There's a woman with a gun in there, and I'm really scared of guns. But I can't let my terror interfere with my mission. Like it or not, I am Teddy's SO, and I can't let my fear get in the way of protecting him.

On Perry's signal, we crash down the door. The woman turns to us immediately. "NO!" she shrieks. "NOBODY WILL RUIN THIS FOR ME!"

She fires. The bullets fly everywhere. Perry tackles Teddy to the ground. I run round to the right, providing a moving target for the woman to hit. I flip to dodge the bullets and land behind a wooden crate in the corner. The following half a dozen bullets splinter the wood. I turn and peer around the side. Teddy has gone down the corridor, presumably to find the other three agents. Perry's hiding behind a box like mine. The woman's searching for him; I don't know why she doesn't just shoot at me but I don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I flip over the crate and land on the woman's back. She screams in anger and tries to buck me off.

I grip tightly onto her shoulders but after a mere half a minute she manages to throw me off. I crash into a wooden crate, breaking it. Perry looks towards me but I don't need his concern. I get up, run towards the woman, sliding under her legs, and hide behind a crate on the other side of the room. Perry does almost exactly the same thing and hides behind a crate about six metres to my right. I jump up and attack the woman. She fires the gun at me. I twist in mid-air to dodge the missile and launch a kick to her chest. As she recoils, I land lightly on the crate that I had just been hiding behind.

"You're hitting a girl!" she snarls. "You can't hit a girl!"

Even though I'm not going to say this aloud, my motto is _hit any gender if they're doing something bad._ This criminal may be a girl but she has a gun and she's holding hostages. That counts as bad.

I jump to hit her again but she swings her gun around and smacks me into the crate I just jumped from. Slightly dazed, I turn round to see her aim the gun at Perry, who's inspecting the contents of a crate and hasn't noticed.

 **Teddy's POV**

"Dad!"

My voice comes out as a choked scream and he doesn't hear me. I start running towards the woman with the gun. If I can't reach my dad, then maybe I can prevent her from firing.

 **Luke's POV**

I begin running towards Perry. Why am I trying to help Perry? He destroyed my life! But did he…? As much as I hate to admit it, Teddy's words outside the prep building are getting to me. After nearly eight years, I realise now that my parents' actions were their own. There is no reason to take out my anger on Perry when he tried desperately to save Ohio and India. That's why I'm helping him.

The gun fires. Everything slows down. I'm running as fast as I can. I yell, "PERRY!" and that sounds slow too. Perry turns in slow motion with a horrified look on his face. I hit into him and push him clear.

 **Teddy's POV**

Just as the gun fires, I hit into the woman and knock her down, knocking the gun out of her hands. Peter and Harry come to my aid and sit on the woman so that she can't get up while I retrieve the gun. Luke's yell of pain makes me whirl round.

 **Luke's POV**

The bullet hits me in the chest. Fiery pain explodes throughout my body as the force of the bullet slams me through a crate and onto the ground on the other side. I'm lying sprawled on my back, my right arm clutching the place where the bullet hit. My eyes are tightly closed, trying to stem the pain, which has actually died down now. I must be dying. Why else would the pain not be as sharp as before? My heart rate is slowing. I can feel it. This is it. I'm going to die. Maybe saving Perry will make up for all those years I resented him.

"Luke!"

That's his voice. He's alive. I saved him. It makes me feel heroic in a way.

"Luke, just hold on! We've called for backup, everything's going to be fine, I promise!"

You can't promise that, Perry, as much as you wish you could. I'm not going to make it, you know that.

"You can't leave me, Luke!" comes Teddy's voice.

My hearing is weird; as if I'm underwater and someone's yelling at me through the water.

"Don't leave Piper!"

Piper…oh God, Piper…I'm so sorry. You were right. Kimi was right. I can't spend all this time hating two people for something they couldn't have prevented. Like Piper pointed out, Teddy wasn't even there. Kimi…I hope she forgives me. I wish I could have been a better boyfriend to her…I do love her.

My eyes crack open. I need to say something before I go. My head turns slightly to find Perry looking anxiously at me. "I'm…sorry…" I croak.

Then I go to sleep. Forever.

…

 **:O I'm being evil today, aren't I? You're gonna have to wait a while to find out what happens!**


	15. Making Things Worse

**DID LUKE SUVIVE? Answers here:**

…

 **Lennie's POV**

I'm camouflaged by Nick's bed. I know I shouldn't be: Apollo said Nick can't have visitors until the next morning, but I can't help it. I've known Nick for pretty much my whole life. I can't just leave him now. I've been here since Teddy left to go on his mission. They're not back yet and I'm beginning to worry.

It's almost completely dark now; since it's late winter, it gets dark quickly. I can see the darkness out the window. Apollo's in front of the window, doing something with medicines. Earlier, he treated Nick's wing and leg; both have bandages on now.

All of a sudden, a bustle of activity blows through the door, giving me a fright and making me tumble off Nick's bedside table. I can hear people talking loudly and the noise of a girl crying. I scramble onto the wall at a good height so I can watch. I see Teddy and his dad, Pinky the Chihuahua, Peter the Panda, and Harry the Hyena. Apollo comes towards them. They've laid someone down on the bed opposite Nick's; it's a red platypus. The only red platypus I know is Luke, though I've never met him. I remember that Perry, Teddy, and Luke went on a mission together. Something's obviously gone wrong.

I turn my head and see Piper in the corner. She's the crying girl. Normally I'd be worried that she's showing her emotions but in this case it's understandable; her brother's badly hurt. I skitter down from the wall and climb up Piper's leg, ending up on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" I ask. "What happened?"

 **Piper's POV**

I feel Lennie climb onto my shoulder before he even speaks. I back away a couple of steps from the group and reply, "Luke saved Perry's life but he's almost dead."

Teddy comes towards me and puts his hand on my shoulder. "I've called Sam," he says. "He's already boarding a plane. He'll be here within six hours."

"It may be too late," I whisper.

Teddy shakes his head. "It can't be!" he says fiercely. "It won't be. It sounds cliché but I'm going to do whatever it takes. I won't let him leave us. He still has to train me."

"Teddy, there will be other SOs-," begins Lennie.

"No there won't!" Teddy seems on the verge of a tantrum. "You don't understand. He's made up his harshness towards me twenty times over. I can't let him die before I at least thank him for it. And when I thank him for it, he's going to be standing up and ready to train me. People have come back from worse."

Lennie and I stare at Teddy. I'm really glad for his optimism right now. "He's made up for his harshness?" Lennie repeats.

Teddy nods determinedly. "Absolutely. Saving my dad's life more than makes up for his coldness towards me."

Kimi comes over to us at that point. She's putting on a brave face for me. "How are you doing?" she asks me.

I shrug helplessly. "I don't know. Everything happened so fast…"

Kimi gives me a warm hug. "I know, hon. The best we can do for now is leave and give Apollo some room to work."

I nod. Lennie says in my ear, "I'll stay and keep you posted," before skittering off my shoulder and up the wall above Luke's bed.

I smile at him as I allow Kimi and Teddy to lead me out.

 **Teddy's POV**

I can't believe how brave Kimi's being. It's easy to forget that she's only six months older than me. She just got into the batch of new recruits before me. Come to think of it, she's actually younger than Piper. That's a weird thought; she would have been in the same training year as Kimi. Maybe Piper would have been my SO had that happened. However, Piper chose to stay back a year instead of starting her training with Kimi. She didn't tell me the reason why but Lennie and Nick seem to think that it's because of me. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing Piper would do, but I've been wrong about people before.

Kimi lets me take over helping Piper completely. Maybe she thinks we're a couple. Anyway, I ask Piper where she wants to go. "The gym," she replies.

"Is now the best time to be training?" I ask doubtfully.

"In case you've forgotten, the auditions for OWCA's Got Talent are tomorrow. We need to get our samba to at least a passable grade by tomorrow."

"We're still entering?"

She gives me a sideways look. "Do you still want to?"

"Of course, yes." I make an apologetic face. "I just thought…with everything going on, that you might not want to. But never mind."

We reach the gym, which is empty. "Why is this place always empty?" I say aloud.

"It's way after hours," Piper replies with a shrug. "It's night time. You should come in here during lunch or in the couple of hours before and after work. Packed."

We practise our samba steps for a while. I'm slowly getting the hang of it. After about fifteen minutes of non-stop dancing, we take a break. "Don't we need to practise the waltz too?" I ask.

"After the auditions, there's a period of two weeks until the show," replies Piper, drinking from her water bottle. "We'll have plenty of time to work on the waltz then."

"Fair enough."

The door to the gym opens and somebody familiar steps through. "Oh, do you guys need privacy?"

"No, Maddy, not at all," I say, beckoning. "You can do whatever you need to."

The echidna comes into the room and sets up the mini trampoline. I turn to Piper, who changed when Madeline came into the room. Her eyes are narrowed and her whole demeanour has changed. "You okay?" I ask.

"Sure," she says flatly, her eyes darting over to where Madeline's setting up the trampet.

 **Piper's POV**

I don't like Madeline. She's assuming, loud, and pushy. And she thinks that just because Teddy and I aren't an item, she can just swoop in and flirt with Teddy with no regard for my feelings. Teddy's too naïve to see what Madeline's doing, but I can see it. She's trying to sway Teddy into going out with her. They haven't even known each other a day. I feel a pang of worry; am I experiencing jealousy? Surely there's nothing to worry about…

Once Madeline starts practising a routine on the trampet, it's all over for our practice. All Teddy wants to do is watch her. That flares up my jealousy quite a bit. She's good on the trampet, but my admiration of her skills is far outweighed by my dislike of her character.

After five minutes, she stops and says to Teddy, "I'm practising for the talent show. You wanna do a routine together?"

For one scary moment, it looks like Teddy's going to accept. Then he says, "Sorry, but I'm already doing something with Piper."

He looks a little too wistful for my liking. The boiling point of my rage comes when Madeline says, "Aw, that's too bad," and looks sadly at me, as if thinking _Teddy can do so much better than her._

I nearly explode. But I use the technique that Sam taught me: breathe and count to ten. I do both. I'm still angry but it's manageable. I plaster a slightly bitter smile on my face and say, "We're doing a dance. The waltz."

"Didn't look like a waltz when I came in," says Madeline.

"You were watching?" Teddy asks.

"Yep. Looks like your poor friend can't tell the difference between a samba and a waltz."

Teddy doesn't defend me.

That's it.

I throw my water bottle at Teddy. It bounces off his forehead and lands in his open palm. He yelps. "Piper! What was that for?"

"You _know_ I'm going through a difficult time at the moment, Teddy!" I shout at him. "How _can_ you stand there and let her insult me like that?"

Madeline makes a mock surprised face. "Aww, is little Piper feeling jealous?"

I snatch my water bottle from Teddy. Smirking, Madeline ducks. She thinks I'm going to throw the bottle at her. Think again. I open the lid and tip all the water onto her head. _Then_ I hit her with the empty water bottle. "MY BROTHER IS DYING OF A BULLET WOUND, YOU PUSHY, RUDE, AWFUL PERSON!"

Madeline's face falls. "I-I didn't know…"

"OH, SO JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T KNOW MY BROTHER WAS DYING, YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST APOLOGISE FOR YOUR MEANNESS AND MAKE IT ALL BETTER? THINK AGAIN! And you!" I turn on Teddy, who raises both paws in front of his face. "It's clear you don't want to enter the show with me so why don't you just do something with Madeline? And while you're at it, become a dating couple! You're clearly not going to work out on your own that that's what Madeline wants."

Teddy and Madeline are staring at me. My rage spent, I run out of the room before they see me cry. I'm not going to give Madeline the satisfaction.

…

 **Ooh, someone should have told Madeline to never make Piper angry. Madeline wouldn't like her when she's angry. Reference, anyone? *high fives self* So what do you think Teddy's going to do?**


	16. Pizza & Counselling

**AND NOW we have a brand new POV as well as a brand new character!**

…

 **Artemis's POV**

I enter the hospital to find my twin brother in the middle of a surgery. One of the nurses, Eleni Hughes, comes over to me. "Hey, Artemis. Here to see your brother?"

"Yeah, but it looks like he's kinda busy…"

"He is. He's in the middle of a surgery to remove a bullet."

"Oh." I feel a pang of sympathy for whichever agent got shot. "Who's the agent?"

"Luke the Platypus."

I don't know him personally but I've heard of him. "Well, I hope he gets better."

Eleni knits her eyebrows. "I hate to say it but I don't know if he will get better. The bullet's in his chest. Apollo hasn't told me exactly where yet but if it pierced his heart or hit a lung…"

I don't have to be a doctor to know what that means. I suck air through my teeth and study my friend carefully. Eleni looks so tired that I say, "Does the surgery require you to be there?"

"Not really."

"When does your shift end?"

Eleni gives a short chuckle. "Two hours ago."

"And when did you last eat?"

She thinks. "Maybe seven hours ago?"

"Right." I take Eleni's hand. "Come on. I'm taking you to supper."

"It's midnight," Eleni points out.

"Late supper," I amend.

Ten minutes later, we're sitting in the cafeteria with two takeaway cheese pizzas. It's dark apart from the light coming through the open doorway from the corridor. The only other people here are a platypus agent sitting on her own in the corner and a cat agent who practically shot over to the table when we offered her pizza. Now she's chatting nicely with us.

 **Eleni's POV**

"I can't believe how much you guys work," the cat—Cassie—says. "All the animal agents go on the occasional mission but nurses and counsellors and staff like that are in the office practically all day."

"I know, right?" I agree, eating another slide of pizza. "I mean, you don't put in as many hours but your work is harder. You have to go out and fight bad guys, risking your lives. Sometimes I think about what would happen if I went out into the field. Sometimes doctors have to go into the field, right?"

"Yeah," Artemis answers. "But not nurses very often."

"I know," I sigh. "That's why I'm taking my doctor's exam next week."

That both surprises and delights Artemis. "Oh, that's great! I can help you study if you need it."

"I don't at the moment, thanks," I reply. "But if I do need help, I might just take you up on that offer."

At that moment, the platypus agent comes up to us. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I might have a slice of your pizza?" I wordlessly offer her the pizza box containing the last slice of pizza. "Oh…if it's the last slice, I don't want to take that from you."

Without words, I open up the second box of pizza and re-offer the platypus the nearly empty box. The platypus smiles slightly and takes the pizza. "Thanks."

"You're Piper, aren't you?" I ask. "Luke's sister."

"You're the sister of the platypus who's having surgery?" Artemis asks.

She nods.

"That must be hard on you," Artemis says sympathetically.

She nods again. "I've never been through this before. I'm really worried about him."

"Well, Arty's brother is the best doctor ever," I say, only half exaggerating. "So I'm sure Luke will be fine. More pizza?"

She opens up the second box. Piper looks doubtfully at it. Artemis and I can both tell that she's reluctant to start the pizza off. We both grin at each other and then we both pick out two slices each. Cassie takes one of her own. Piper can't help smiling as she picks up a second slice.

 **Artemis's POV**

For about five minutes, we eat our pizza in silence. Throughout that time, I watch Piper. As a psychiatrist, I've been taught to accurately read people. I can tell that there's something other than her brother's condition bothering her. Being a counsellor, I feel like I need to ask her about it but not in front of my friends.

Luckily, Eleni stands up and says she needs to get back to work. Cassie follows her out, saying she wants to go to bed. There's two slices of pizza left. Piper chews on one of them while I gobble the last one down.

"Is there something else bothering you?" I ask Piper. "Apart from Luke."

She sighs. "Is it that obvious?"

"Not at all," I answer, to her surprise and relief. "It's just that I've been trained to read signs. It wasn't obvious to Eleni, or she would have asked you about it before she left. Trust me, she's that type of person. So do you want to talk about it?"

Piper stares down at the table. "I don't know if I want to talk about it."

"That's okay." I understand, but it might be good to get it off her chest. "If I can guess what it is, will you talk about it?"

"Sure."

 **Piper's POV**

She studies me hard. Even though she's a trained psychiatrist, part of me is hoping she won't figure it out. I don't know if I'll be able to discuss my feelings. But most of me wants to talk about it. I need to talk about it to somebody, and the counsellor is the best person to chat to when you have a problem. And Artemis is practically the opposite of Madeline: she listens well, she doesn't interrupt people, she doesn't jump to conclusions, and she doesn't judge people.

 **Artemis's POV**

"Jealousy," I state after a few minutes.

She half smiles. "How'd you know?"

"You have a kind of beat-down look about you," I reply. "I actually got most of the signs from just after Eleni and Cassie left. When you stare off into the distance, you have a slight look that shows you're either in love with someone or you think you might be. But you also frown every few seconds, as if you're angry with someone. If you were mad with the person you're in love with or think you're in love with, the expression of love wouldn't be as strong as it is on you. So I think someone's been flirting with your guy and you fear he might be leaning towards her instead of staying with you."

Piper stares at me for a moment before shaking her head. "Man, you're good. Yeah, that's exactly it. I think I might love this guy, but, as you said, some girl's been flirting with him and he's been paying attention to it. It's not like we're going out," she adds hurriedly. "But I've always thought there was something between us but now that perfect little Madeline's on the scene-."

 **Piper's POV**

I freeze, knowing that Artemis has picked up on my saying her name. I shouldn't have said her name…

"Don't worry about it," Artemis reassures me. "We may not be in the counselling room but patient confidentiality still applies. Nothing goes further than this room if you don't want it to."

I nod my thanks and carry on talking, getting it all off my chest. It's relieving, really. I've been bottling up my feelings for ages, and now I can finally let them out…

…

 **What do you think of Eleni? Cassie also made a kind-of cameo :) I think she's mellowed with age XD who thinks I should give Cassie a family e.g. mate and maybe kids?**


	17. Maze Mayhem part 1 of 2

**OWCA Files reference in this chapter :) well, of sorts :/**

…

 **Teddy's POV**

It's a week later. Lots has happened:

Apollo said the surgery was successful but there may be negative repercussions so he's indefinitely keeping Luke in an induced coma.

Piper and I did the OWCA's Got Talent auditions and were told immediately that we were in. Piper was distant with me, though not cold, throughout the audition.

Sam's here visiting. He's spending a lot of time with Piper, which is understandable, since he moved to Seattle years ago and hasn't seen her since.

Mom and Dad's egg is close to hatching. Mom has parked herself in her room with the egg and isn't coming out until the egg has hatched. I'm personally hoping for a little brother. I don't know how I'll cope if I'm outnumbered in terms of female siblings.

…

My team and I are doing a brand new training exercise. We've passed Carnival Caper, Town Square Riot, Freeway Assault, and Escape the Ancient Ruin training exercises. Yesterday, Carl introduced a brand new training exercise called Maze Mayhem.

Basically, it's a massive hedge maze with five entrances. Every member of the team is allocated an item to find, out of five possible objects: a red apple, a small silver statue, a jewelled necklace, a medium-sized yellow stone, and a golden leaf. The leaf is the hardest to find because it's the smallest and it actually blends in quite well, despite its colour. Each member of the team has a holographic map of the maze which shows their own position but not the positions of either the items or the other members of the team. However, they can talk to each other over a comm line. The team members each start at a different one of the entrances and makes their way through, trying to find their allocated item. If they find a different item to the one they're looking for, they're not allowed to pick it up but they are allowed to tell the other members of the team where it is. We're not allowed to know what objects the others are looking for until we find it and give the news over the comm. Then the person who's looking for the item is allowed to say that they're the one looking for that item. When you find your item, you have to keep looking for the others. Once everyone has their item, then they have to make their way to the centre of the maze. The map automatically updates to show the positions of everyone else once all the items have been found.

It sounds a little complicated but believe it or not it's actually quite fun.

Nick's been released by Apollo. His wing and leg are much better now, though he still hasn't told us what happened to him. He says he can't remember. Anyway, he's allowed to fly through the maze but neither he nor anybody else is allowed to go over or through the hedges.

We're standing each at one of the entrances. When Carl gives the word, we all run into the maze. I've been allocated the statue to find, but typically it's the red apple that I find as soon as I turn my first corner. I can't touch it but I activate my comm link and say, "Guys, I've found the red apple."

"That's mine," comes Mayfair's voice. "Where?"

I activate my map. "On the north side," I reply.

"Roger. I'll be on my way. Oh, I just found the yellow stone. It's by the east entrance. Whose is that?"

"Oh great," comes Nick's voice. "I'm on the west side. Now I have to fly all the way over there."

"Just look out for the other items," says Piper's voice. "Finding two in the first minute is not a good sign."

 **Mayfair's POV**

I pass Teddy on my way to the north side. We exchange a smile. Ever since Nick's accident—as horrible as it sounds—we've gotten closer. We even held hands while waiting for Apollo's verdict on Luke. It seemed at the time like a gesture of worry but even when Apollo told us Luke would be fine, we didn't let go of our hands until Piper came and found us. _That_ was awkward, though I'm pretty sure something's happened between Teddy and Piper—she's being really distant towards him.

I have trouble finding the apple. I keep bringing up my map and checking that I'm on the north side, and I am, but I can't find it. I activate my comm and say to Teddy, "Where did you see the apple? I can't find it."

Teddy replies immediately. "It was just opposite the entrance I came through."

So find the entrance and you'll find the apple. Go on, Mayfair. Just find the entrance. Easier said than done, apparently; I run around for the better part of seven minutes, and yet I don't find the entrance.

"Just to clarify: the entrances don't close up when we go through them, do they?" I ask.

Nobody replies. I repeat my question and I hear Piper's voice: "They shouldn't do. So if you find it and it has, something's wrong."

"I found my item!" Lennie says. "It's the necklace. Only problem is: it's, like, half my weight and I can't really drag it very fast."

"Start heading towards the centre then," Piper instructs. "So you can have a head start."

"Guys, Carl's just told me over comm that the traps have been activated," comes Nick's voice.

"Nobody told me they'd be traps," says Teddy's anxious voice.

This exercise just got a whole lot more interesting…

…

 **Mayfair's still in the game! The game of Teddy's love, that is. What do you think: could she be the one for Teddy? What do you think is going to happen with the traps and stuff?**


	18. Maze Mayhem part 2 of 2

**Now for the second half of the maze:**

…

 **Nick's POV**

Traps…that doesn't sound good.

The thought has just passed through my mind when an animatronic thorny vine suddenly shoots out of the hedge in front of me. My first thought is to protect my wing and leg. Ironically, this first thought nearly makes me hurt my wing and leg. If I hadn't gotten my second thought _(MOVE, YOU IDIOT!)_ in time, I would have hurt myself. I dive downwards to avoid the vine, which curls over and chases me.

"Oh come on!"

I carry on around the corner and almost fly directly into Piper's head. I quickly fly around her and carry on, not missing her exclamation of surprise. "Nick, what are you-?"

She catches sight of the vine and quickly follows me. "Nick, why is this vine following you?" she demands quietly but in a tone of voice that says I better answer.

"I don't know, do I?" I snap, looping over and continuing flying beside Piper's head so we can talk. "It's a trap. It chases the first person it sees. That's not my fault."

We round a corner. "We need to find a way to get the vine off our backs," Piper pants.

"How about we split off and whoever the vine chases has to come up with a solution?" I suggest.

Piper throws me a look. "That's a horrible plan."

"You got a better idea?"

"I have several dozen better ideas but sure let's do that."

We reach an intersection. Piper goes one way, I go the other. I look back and stop when I find that the vine is shuddering. It splits in half and then suddenly implodes into a dozen green pieces. I fly back and land by the broken vine. Piper comes back and stares down at it. "What do you know?" I comment quietly. "That actually did work."

 **Teddy's POV**

I rediscover the apple, which thoroughly confuses me because the apple's on the north side and I thought I was heading towards the west side. In fact, I also rediscover the entrance I entered the maze through. "What the heck…?"

"Guys, I need help!" cries Mayfair's voice. "I've fallen into a really deep pit and I can't get out!"

"May, where are you?" I say immediately.

"I don't know! My map's not working!"

"When you last checked your map, where were you?"

Muffled sobbing comes over the comm. "May, are you hurt?" I ask urgently.

"Yes," Mayfair sniffles. "I landed on my leg and I can't put weight on it. It really hurts."

"Stay exactly where you are," Piper commands. "Don't try and climb out. Nick, can you fly up and scout her position?"

"I can't do that!" Nick protests. "It's against the rules!"

"We don't really have a choice, Nick!" snaps Piper.

"Besides, Nick, the rules say that you're not allowed to fly above the hedge _to find the hidden objects,_ " I point out.

"That's a technicality at best, Ted."

"Okay, but protocol states that rules can be broken in an emergency. Mayfair's hurt. I'd say that's an emergency."

"I guess…" Nick's still hesitant. I know he doesn't like breaking rules, but Mayfair's muffled crying helps make up his mind. "Oh, fine. But if I get busted, I'm telling Carl it was your idea."

"It's the truth," comes Piper's voice. "So I don't care."

 **Nick's POV**

"It's the truth so I don't care," I mimic, as I fly above the hedge and get an aerial view.

Straight away, I spot a massive pit. I swoop down over it and catch a glimpse of the purple cat huddled at the bottom. "I have her location," I say into the comm. "She's in the north west side. But it's a pretty deep pit. I think we're all going to need to help her."

"You can't just fly in and carry her out?" Piper demands.

"Oh absolutely," I snap, settling on the top of the hedge. "I, a ten ounce egret, can totally lift a four kilogram cat. I CAN'T SEE A SINGLE FLAW IN _THAT_ PLAN!"

"Alright!" yells Piper. "Don't bite my head off, I'm just trying to help, here!"

"Guys, stop!" Teddy shouts. "I'm on my way."

"I'm coming too," says Lennie's voice. "But I'm on the north side and I'm tiny so it's gonna take a while."

 **Teddy's POV**

"I'm here," I say as I run around the corner and face an empty path. "I'm not here."

"Yes you are," Piper says as I see her peek around the corner. "Almost."

A little sheepish, I follow Piper around the corner and we find the pit. Nick flutters down from the top of the hedge and perches by the side of the pit. We all peer in and see Mayfair lying at the bottom. She looks up. "Teddy!" she calls.

Piper looks slightly miffed but she calls, "Hold on, Mayfair. We'll get you out." She turns to us. "We're going to make a chain. Unfortunately, two of us are really small and not very strong…"

I know she's just thinking aloud and not trying to be mean but Nick snaps, "Well I'm sorry for being completely useless and not being able to fly and find Mayfair in the pit."

"Hmm?" Piper looks round. "What?"

"Nothing…" mutters Nick.

Piper gazes thoughtfully at Nick. "Would you be able to hold us up?"

"You, Teddy, _and_ Mayfair?"

"And Lennie if he ever turns up," Piper adds.

"I'm nearly there!" snaps Lennie's voice.

Nick looks doubtful. "I could try. But I don't think I'll be able to lift you out."

"Leave that to me."

Piper takes my hand. This makes me feel slightly awkward, since this is the most intimate thing we've ever done outside of the waltzing. She begins edging into the pit. As her feet completely leave the ground, I almost slip right in after her at the sudden weight on my arms. I grab at air with my other hand but a long tongue wraps around my wrist. It's a little uncomfortable but it saves me. I look up and see Lennie's tail wrapped around Nick's legs. The little egret is flapping his wings as hard as he can. He's only just able to keep us up. I look down and see Piper grabbing Mayfair's hand.

"Now what?" Nick calls down, sounding strained.

"Mayfair, can you climb up the chain?" Piper asks.

Mayfair looks both doubtful and scared. "I don't know. I hope so."

"Try it."

Mayfair climbs slowly onto Piper's shoulders, wincing at the pain in her leg. When she gets to me, she slips. In the same moment, Piper wrenches her hand out of mine. I automatically grab Mayfair's wrist and don't register what Piper has done for at least ten seconds. I stare down into the pit and catch sight of Piper lying at the bottom, looking up at us. "Piper!" I call.

"I'm fine!" she shouts up to us.

"What's happened?" Nick shouts.

Piper goes to the side of the pit and slowly begins to climb out. We watch her in surprise. When she gets to the top, she takes hold of Nick around his body and pulls. Nick and Lennie are brought onto the ground, Lennie's grip on my wrist being ripped off. Piper takes hold of my wrist instead and pulls Mayfair and I out. Mayfair's clutching me tightly, and when we're on solid ground again, I hug her reassuringly. I know without looking that Piper's probably glaring but poor Mayfair's just fallen into a pit and hurt her leg. I think I'm allowed to comfort her.

"Do you want me to come with you to find the apple?" I ask.

She nods tearfully. "Thanks."

"Is that allowed?" mutters Lennie.

"I got the leaf," says Piper, holding up the golden object. "Lennie and Nick have theirs, and we know where the apple is, but where's the statue?"

"I passed it on my way here," Lennie says. "I left the necklace next to it because I had to abandon it when someone fell down a pit."

He gives a meaningful look to Mayfair, who doesn't notice it.

"I'll take Mayfair to get the apple," I offer. "Because I remember where it is. Lennie can come with us. Then we'll go and get the necklace and the statue. Piper and Nick can go look for the centre. Okay?"

Everyone mutters their agreement.

 **Mayfair's POV**

We find the apple with absolutely no problems. I'm a little embarrassed that I couldn't find it on my own, but I'm just glad Teddy's with me. My arm is over his shoulder and he's helping me walk, since my leg still really hurts when I try and put weight on it.

Then, using Lennie's directions, we go and find the other two items. As soon as Lennie and Teddy pick up the necklace and statue respectively, our maps update. Within two minutes, Piper's dot shows that she's in the central place. Because of this, we follow her dot until we all find ourselves in the centre with the items. Nick and Piper are waiting for us. We have done it.

We have completed Maze Mayhem.

…

 **:) any requests for things you want to see in later chapters?**


	19. Two Pivotal Moments

**Brace yourselves for a busy chapter… I:}**

…

 **Priya's POV**

The only time I'm not watching the egg is when I get a bit of sleep. Perry and Pearl bring me food and water, and Hazel often keeps me company, though she's just gone into the last year of training and she's quite busy.

Perry comes into the room with two mugs of hot chocolate. I gratefully take mine and sip at it. "How long to go?" Perry asks.

I shrug. "Sometime soon. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. I mean, it is the tenth day today but Teddy took longer."

"Teddy…" mutters Perry. "He's in a difficult position. Luke's in hospital and he's got three girls competing for his heart."

"Three?" I repeat. "Piper, Mayfair, and…?"

"Madeline the Echidna," explains Perry. "Daughter of Agent E."

"Oh, she's Elliot the Echidna's daughter," I say. "And she fancies our Teddy too? Poor boy; who's he going to choose?"

"Well, a couple of days ago, he came to me with that exact dilemma," Perry tells me. "He was upset that you and I fell in love quickly so why couldn't he?"

"Aw, poor boy."

"Yeah. I told him that our case was special; very few couples fall in love as quickly as we did. If the right person isn't presented to you right away, that's not a problem. I told him that his heart knows what it wants and it will tell him what it wants when the time is right."

At that moment, a red light begins blinking on the incubator, and the machine itself starts making a beeping noise. We both nearly fall off the bed. "The egg's hatching!" I say excitedly. "Go get your mom and Hazel if she's here."

Perry topples off the bed and practically sprints out of the room. I wish Teddy could be here to see this but he was present when Hazel was born. Hazel herself has never seen an egg hatch.

Perry comes back with Pearl and Hazel in tow. Both girls are excited. "It's hatching!" Hazel squeals.

I gently lift the egg out of the incubator and hold it in my hands. The other three platypuses crowd round. I never thought Perry's mom would be present at the birth of any of our children, but I'm sure Perry's glad she's here.

After a few moments with the air so thick with anticipation that you could make cookies out of it, the top of the egg cracks completely. I reach into the egg and take out the tiny platypus. Hazel and Pearl gasp simultaneously.

"Pink fur," whispers Perry. "It's a girl."

"Teddy won't be pleased," giggled Hazel quietly.

"What are you going to call her?" Pearl asks.

Perry and I glance at each other. We'd already decided on a gender neutral name, and that one glance confirmed that we are going to stick with it.

"Quinn," I say aloud, gently stroking my new daughter's warm fur. "Her name will be Quinn."

…

 **Piper's POV**

When we get back to the main building, Teddy and I remember that the final for OWCA's Got Talent is tonight. We've been practising all week, of course, but the whole maze thing kind of put the competition out of our minds. I drag Teddy to the gym to practise. Yet again, it's empty. We count ourselves lucky that we always go to the gym when it's the middle of the working day.

We try and practise the waltz but neither of our heads are in the game. We stop after only five minutes. "This is ridiculous," I snap.

"We just need to talk things out," Teddy soothes me.

"Talk what out? How you've been letting stupid Madeline come in and take over my place in your life? How my feelings for you are becoming so blindingly obvious and how much it hurts every time you do something intimate with Mayfair or Madeline?" I know I shouldn't be talking like this but sometimes Teddy drives me over the edge, whether purposefully or otherwise. "It hurt my heart when I saw you and Mayfair together back in the maze. It really hurt my heart last week when Madeline interrupted our samba practice and, what's worse, you _let_ her! I really thought you were going to choose to do something with her."

Teddy's looking very taken aback. He holds up his hands. "Whoa, whoa." Luckily, he doesn't tell me to calm down; if he did, I'd probably explode with anger. "I wasn't going to do anything with Madeline. You know I love doing the waltz with you."

"You have a funny way of showing it," I snap, though my anger's diminishing. I sigh deeply. "I'm sorry, Teddy. It's just that…Madeline's the opposite of you. She's everything you're not: pushy, rude, loud, and judgemental. The idea that you might care for her more than me was too much for me to bear."

Teddy puts his hands on my shoulders. "I don't care about her more than you. I most definitely care about you more than her. She's been an admittedly close friend, but only for a week; you've been my best friend for practically my whole life."

I look helplessly into the face of the guy I love. There, I'm admitting it, if not aloud. I love Teddy. "I know you don't have to make this decision now," I begin. "But I need to know: who are you going to choose to spend the rest of your life with?"

He blinks. "Pipes?"

I carry on quickly: "Madeline, Mayfair, or me? Even if this isn't your final decision, I need to know who you love. Mayfair's had a crush on you for ages—she loves you. I'm pretty sure Madeline loves you too, in a flirty kind of way. And me…" I look down at the ground and then back up at Teddy. "I do love you, Teddy. I know I haven't shown it, but I have for years, in my own way. Any of the three of us will have you. But…who is it _you_ love?"

Teddy's silent as he takes his hands off my shoulders. Then he says, "You know, I've been thinking about this for the last week. It's kept me up at night, thinking about you three. I mean, all three of you are great. But my heart knows who it loves. It loves the person who I'm happiest to see each day."

Is…is that me?

"It loves the person who loves me the most."

That could be me…

"It loves the person who's continued to grow in my heart since the day I met her…"

That's probably not me.

"…eight years ago."

Okay, _that's_ me.

I stare into Teddy's eyes in shock as he smiles and says, "It's you. I love you, Piper."

"I love you too, Teddy," I say back.

We lean in and kiss. And let me just say; it's well worth the wait.

…

 **WE HAVE HAD A BUSY CHAPTER HAVENT WE? We have a new baby girl, Quinn, and Teddy/Piper is finally canon! How are Mayfair and Madeline going to react? 0:) (angel emoji learned from Nightflame203 who learned it from veryloyalfan)**


	20. Things Heating Up Even More

**There will be some drama in this chapter—be warned 0:)**

…

 **Teddy's POV**

We're standing backstage, waiting for our turn to go onstage. Piper insisted that rehearsing steps in the lead-up to the performance will only make us more nervous, so we're hanging out, calming ourselves down before the show. Coincidentally, we're just after Madeline and her trampet act. We watch her from the wings. She's good. Even Piper admits that.

When she comes off and we go on, I see Mom, Dad, Hazel, Pearl, and my new sister in the audience. Quinn. She's only seven hours old, and yet she already looks like Mom.

Piper and I get into position. As soon as the music starts, we begin our dance. I forget my nerves and get lost in the music. With Piper's arms around me, I soon find that I am doing the steps automatically. I don't need to think about them anymore. The two minute slot flies by, and before I know it, Piper and I are met with thunderous applause. The four judges—Major Monogram, Carl, Artemis, and Apollo—are almost all crying. I bet you can guess which one of them isn't.

As we go offstage to make room for the next act, I swing Piper round with joy while she laughs. "That was amazing!" she gasps.

"Yes, yes it was," says a voice from behind us.

I put Piper down and we turn. "Madeline," Piper says frostily. She still doesn't like Madeline, despite the fact that Piper and I are now together.

"Chill, Platypus Girl," Madeline says coolly. "I just wanted to say your performance was great."

"Thank you and that's not my name."

She rather possessively takes my hand, interlocking our fingers. Madeline sees this and raises an eyebrow, but we're distracted by the host of OWCA's Got Talent going onstage and saying, "Thank you, all contestants."

All the acts come onstage to stand by Ravi the Rabbit, the host. "The judges have made their decision. In third place…" He pauses for dramatic effect, though only for about five seconds. "Cassie!"

Cassie the Cat smiles at the audience as she goes up to collect her prize: a bottle of champagne. She briefly kisses Ravi, who is her mate, and comes back to stand in line.

"In second place…" The pause is a little longer than last time. "Madeline!"

Madeline smirks at Piper, who narrows her eyes back, and collects her own prize: a gift voucher for a popular restaurant.

"And in first place…" This time, the pause is nearly twenty seconds long. "TEDDY AND PIPER!"

The applause is deafening. I can hear Pearl and Hazel cheering their heads off as we collect our tickets to the water park. I look inside the envelope. We've been given five ticket: two for us, and we can invite three of our friends. I feel grateful that's it's three friends and not two.

…

 **Piper's POV**

At the after party, we get lots of people coming up to us and congratulating us on both winning and our dance. Teddy and I mostly hang out on the window seat, looking out at the stars, eating and drinking, and listening to the music.

We decide to head outside and get some fresh air. We go outside and take a walk down to the lake. We can still just about hear the music. Just as we prepare to go back inside, Mayfair arrives. "That was awesome, guys!" Mayfair enthuses. "Congratulations!"

She looks like she's about to throw herself at Teddy, but then she catches sight of the fact that Teddy and I are holding hands. Her face pales. "You two…?" she mutters.

I feel sympathetic towards her. "May, I know you really like Teddy, but-."

 _"_ _Really like?"_ snaps Mayfair. "You _know_ how I feel about Teddy!"

"You're being selfish, May," I say firmly.

"No, _you're_ being selfish!" snarls Mayfair. "And don't call me May! You know how long I've loved Teddy! How can you abuse me like that?"

Teddy tries to appease the angry cat. "May-," he begins.

She only turns on him. "Don't "May" me!" she snaps at him. "I thought we were getting closer! How many times has Piper stopped speaking to you? How many arguments have you two had? And how many arguments have _we_ had? None!"

"That's irrelevant," I say, trying to gain control of the situation.

"No it isn't!" Mayfair's tone of voice raises to a shrill hysteria. "We've been getting closer while you were growing apart!"

"We were never growing apart," Teddy tells her.

I can tell he's trying to defend me and our relationship but without further angering Mayfair. Unfortunately, it's not working terribly well.

"Oh, well, you could have fooled me!" Mayfair barked. "Every time some other girl even shows the slightest interest in Teddy, you get cold and frosty and you don't talk to anybody! I know what this is—it's jealousy. You were jealous when Madeline started flirting with Teddy, and now you can't stand the thought of Teddy and I being together so you stole him from me! It's pure jealousy and spite, that's what this relationship is!"

 **Teddy's POV**

Piper gasps loudly. I quickly say, "Mayfair, this isn't like you. You're just upset. Why don't we all take a deep breath, and-." I break off as Piper punches Mayfair in the face. "-or we can just hit each other," I finish sarcastically. "How can that _possibly_ make the situation worse than it already is?" I let out a squawk and jump backwards as Piper launches herself at Mayfair and knocks the cat over. "Oh, and now we're actually fighting. Great. That's the best kind of discussing problems. There's no way _this_ can backfire."

The fact that we're quite far away from the others coupled with the loud music, nobody hears my friends' loud fight. I try and intervene several times but for some reason Piper and Mayfair seem to have got it into their heads that whoever wins the fight gets to go out with me because they're yelling things like, "Teddy's mine!" and, "fight me for him!"

Eventually, I take hold of Piper around the waist and throw her into the lake. Call me cruel, but she's told me before that the water calms her down. Besides, she's semi-aquatic, like me. I turn to face Mayfair, who has visible injuries on her face and body. "So you've chosen me," she slurs.

"Just because I didn't throw you in the lake, doesn't mean I didn't want to," I say.

With hindsight, that was rather harsh. Mayfair blanches, but I'm more focused on Piper, who's crawling out of the lake. She stands up with no help, takes a deep breath, and very calmly says, "Thank you, Teddy. I needed that."

Relieved that she isn't angry, I take Piper into a hug. When we turn back, Mayfair is gone.

 **Mayfair's POV**

I run to the nearest tree and climb up it all the way to nearly the very top. I can't believe it. He's chosen to be with someone else. After everything, he's with Piper. He didn't so much as give me a second thought. How _dare_ she! I've loved Teddy for a lot longer than she has. Sure, she's known him longer, but that's irrelevant. Like I told Teddy, we get along better. Piper's often mean to Teddy and she ignores him when he does something wrong. I thought Piper was my friend, but it turns out she doesn't care about my feelings. I love Teddy much more than Piper does!

I cry and cry and cry. My heart feels like it's cracked in two pieces. My chest hurts like fire. I never want to stop crying. I never want to come down from this tree.

Then something snaps inside my head. My feelings are replaced with one mission: Piper needs to be dealt with.

…

 **How's that for a cliffhanger? :) what do you think Mayfair's going to do? Also, on advice from Nightflame203, I did give Cassie a mate :) taking ideas on children's names**


	21. The Interruption

**Sorry I haven't been updating much—my computer hasn't been working very well.**

…

 **Piper's POV**

We head back to the party to look for Mayfair. Even I agree that things got out of hand. I can tell that Teddy feels really bad about how she found out. I didn't really help matters. I might have been overly harsh to poor Mayfair.

We look but we can't find her. Instead, we find Teddy's family. Priya's crying even half an hour after the performance. Perry and Pearl both congratulate us calmly, but Teddy and I both see that Pearl's face is slightly red. Hazel hugs both of us and hints strongly that she wants to be taken to the waterpark with us. Teddy doesn't tell her that he's already planned for himself, me, Lennie, Nick, and Mayfair to go. Of course, that's if Mayfair still wants to go. I don't know if she will want to go…

I even get to hold Teddy's baby sister, after Teddy of course. Since we were so wrapped up in rehearsing, Teddy and I were told that she was born but neither of us have held her yet. Baby Quinn looks so content in Teddy's arms. He looks like a natural parent.

Naturally, there's a slight uproar in our corner when we tell Perry and Priya that we're mates now. _I'm_ the one who tells them that. I can tell that Teddy was going to but I wanted to be the one. Priya starts crying again. Hazel can't stop hugging me, and Perry and Pearl hug each other with delight.

 **Teddy's POV**

When we're allowed a moment to ourselves, Piper and I slip off. We head out of the main hall, where the party's taking place, and into the very quiet office floor. I perch on the desk in my office while Piper sits down on the chair. Piper smiles as she says, "I really like your family."

"So…you don't blame Dad for…?"

I think deep down I know her answer. But I just need to hear her say it.

Her face settles into a slight frown as she gets up off the chair and sits next to me on the desk. "No, of course not, Teddy. I'm not my brother."

I suddenly feel a pang of panic. "Luke isn't going to be mad, is he? About…you know… _us?"_

"Oh no, I don't think so." Piper grins mischievously. "I'm at least 75% sure he won't throw you off a building."

" _That's_ reassuring…"

We laugh together. She rests her head on my shoulder and we simply sit together for about half an hour, listening to the music. I hate to admit it but I have completely forgotten about Mayfair.

Then I venture her a question: "So now that we're mates…" To play it safe, I wait a couple of seconds to see if she'll dispute the word. She doesn't. She just waits expectantly. "…I know we don't have to yet. In fact, I don't think either of us want to right now…but, one day, have you thought about starting a family?"

Her face completely relaxes. "Have _you?"_

I slowly nod. "I mean, one day, I'd love to start a family with you. But would you want to?"

She laughs. "Of course I would, Teddy. I just don't know when we'll be ready. It could be in a few months, or a few years."

I nod. "Whenever it is, I will cherish every day with you."

"Thank you."

We interlock our fingers on both hands and lean in until our foreheads touch. "I love you, Piper," I say quietly.

She smiles. "I love you too, Teddy."

"I will never get tired of saying that," I declare.

Our moment is interrupted by a loud crash coming from the main hall. We rush back into the hall and find a huge metal machine shaped like an octopus coming through a gaping hole in the wall. There's heavy smoke in the air and debris from the wall litters the floor. Agents are running about and screaming. I frantically look around for my family. Dad is ushering Mom with Quinn in her arms out of the room. Pearl is helping Ravi the Rabbit out from underneath a piece of debris.

"What _is_ that?" gasps Piper.

"I'm gonna call it Octobot," I declare.

 **Perry's POV**

"Stay here," I command Priya, who's still clutching Quinn.

I run back into the main hall and find Teddy and Piper staring up at the monster machine. I come in just in time to hear Teddy's declaration of the machine's name.

"Octobot?" I repeat. "Really, Teddy?"

He shrugs. "It makes it easier to fight him when he has a name."

Two of Octobot's tentacles snake out and pick up Ravi the Rabbit and Pearl. She lets out a scream.

"No!" I yell.

"Pearl!" yells Teddy.

I run towards Octobot with fury surging through my veins. I leap up and deliver a kick to the body of Octobot. With hindsight, I should have gone for the leg holding my mother, but the anger in me kind of blurred the line between what is and isn't sensible. One of Octobot's free legs smacks me into a wall. I land painfully on my chest. I think a couple of my ribs have been cracked.

I look up and see Teddy and Piper launch an attack together. Teddy does what I should have done; he attacks the leg holding Pearl while Piper goes for the leg holding Ravi. Both attacks fail and my son and his mate follow me into the wall.

Teddy groans in pain. "That was a mistake…"

"Hey!" yells a voice.

We look round to find Cassie standing right in front of Octobot. "Cassie, no!" I yell.

 **Cassie's POV**

I ignore Perry's yell. "Let go of my mate!" I screech.

Ravi stares down at me. "Cass, get out of here!"

"Not without you!" I snap fiercely, though I can't stop some tears falling down my face.

I bring out a small knife from my fedora, the blade of which suddenly extends until I'm holding a large katana. I run, leap, and bring the sword down on the leg, cutting a large slice out of it. Octobot lets out a roar and flings Ravi into the air. I drop my sword, push off against Octobot's body, and catch my mate in mid-air. We hit a table hard and crash to the ground. The impact makes us both hit our heads, knocking Ravi out and making my vision spin. I see that Octobot is coming towards us but when I try and stand up, I fall back down again. I manage to crawl to and slump in front of Ravi's body to protect it.

 **Piper's POV**

I see Octobot going for Cassie and Ravi, neither of whom can protect themselves. During my basic training, Cassie helped me out a lot and taught me so much. I'm not about to let her die.

I leap to my feet and rush towards Octobot, scooping up Cassie's dropped sword in the process. With one stroke, I slice off the arm holding Pearl, who drops to the floor and lands lightly. She calls to me, "The body of this machine is where the pilot's sitting. We need to get to the cockpit."

I pause, thinking over my options. "Give me a boost," I call to Pearl.

Pearl holds her hands low to the ground with her palms up. I run as fast as I can towards her. Just as I'm about to run headlong into her, I push off with my feet, which connect with her hands. With a mighty heave, Pearl uses her hands to throw me up and forwards towards Octobot. I slice two of Octobot's arms off with a single swing. Teddy, Pearl, and Perry attack from below. Cassie manages to get to her feet and help.

After only a couple of minutes, we've cut off all the legs. Octobot's body crashes heavily to the ground. I use Cassie's katana to slice open the opaque black dome and find the person inside.

 **Teddy's POV**

Piper gasps loudly. We all hear the clang of the katana hitting the ground. "Pipes! What's wrong?" I ask worriedly, coming to join her.

I look into the pod too. My hand flies to cover my mouth. Oh…it-it can't be! Oh God. Oh no. This can't be happening…!

The person inside the pod, lying unconscious against the side of it, is Mayfair.

…

 **Dun dun DUUUUN! *gasps* how's THAT for a cliffhanger?**


	22. Mayfair's Motive

***grins* Hate me for that cliffhanger? Well, here's what happened next**

…

 **Nick's POV**

I can barely process what has happened.

When the machine attacked, Lennie and I were in the hospital wing chatting to Apollo and Eleni. We heard crashes and fighting sounds coming from the main hall. We were going to help but Apollo told us to stay in the hospital wing. After that, a load of people came in and the two of us were relegated to the top of the filing cabinet in the corner. We watched as the injured were placed on beds in the hospital bay. We watched as Apollo and the nurses were run off their feet.

That's when we saw Teddy and Piper, and they told us the truth of the attack.

Now the four of us are sitting outside on the grass, waiting for a chance to see Mayfair. We're all trying so hard to comprehend what's happened. The light of dawn is coming over the horizon. I watch the sun as it slowly rises. Piper's shell-shocked. She's tucked up in a ball on her side, leaning against Teddy with her head on Teddy's chest and her eyes staring down at the ground. Teddy's gently massaging her shoulders. Lennie's also curled up in a ball, but he's resting on the grass. I'm lying on my back with my wings spread out, staring at the sky.

I'm wondering how on earth Mayfair is the one behind the attack. She's put innocent agents in hospital and frightened the life out of everybody else. I'm trying to think of why Mayfair would do it. So far, mind control is the only thing I can think of. There is one other option, of course, and I don't like it. Teddy told Lennie and I about what had happened when Mayfair found out that Teddy and Piper had become mates (a fact I'm not even going to _try_ and process right now). Maybe the jealousy drove Mayfair mad. I'm trying desperately to think of reasons why that can't be it. The only reason I can think of is that it's fairly unlikely that she would turn so dark in such a small period of time. I don't want to believe that Mayfair did what she did of her own mind or willingness. It _has_ to be mind control or blackmail or something…there's no way Mayfair could have just turned evil, could there…?

Major Monogram comes out into the garden. We all immediately look up at him. He wordlessly nods at us. We all get up and go inside. Carl directs us to the cells. It's going to kill us…

 **Teddy's POV**

We head straight into the cells. Piper and I are clutching hands tightly. Cassie is on guard, _again_ , this time with Harry the Hyena. Harry smiles at us and waves us through but Cassie snarls, "If it was up to me, that traitor wouldn't be allowed visitors."

I nearly punch her straight in the face but Piper's grip on my hand tightens slightly. I swallow down my rage, put a fake smile on my face, and walk through.

"She nearly killed a lot of agents!" Cassie snaps as we go through. "Including my mate!"

"I swear, one day I'm going to murder that cat," Piper snarls.

"As much as I hate to say it, this time she does have a point." Piper turns her angry glare on me so I feel the need to clarify: "Whether she did it of her own volition or not, Mayfair did nearly kill Ravi, Pearl, and a lot of other agents. Mom and Dad were there with baby Quinn. She could have died too."

"Also, nobody knows the truth yet," adds Nick, who's flying over our heads. "To most agents, Mayfair did this of her own accord."

"But not to us, right?" Lennie, who's sitting on my shoulder, says nervously. " _We_ believe in Mayfair's innocence, right?"

The problem is: none of us are sure that we do believe in Mayfair's innocence. It's horrible to say, but Piper and I saw the fury in Mayfair when she found out about our relationship. Jealousy can make people do terrible things.

We stop in front of the only lit cell. This is it…the moment of truth.

 **Mayfair's POV**

I wake up on the floor in a strangely familiar place. It's OWCA's prison. It's almost funny; I've never been on this side of the glass before. I get to my feet and slam my fist into the glass panel in front of me with anger. Then I take a deep breath and step back. _Calm down, May,_ I tell myself. _Just do what she told you…breathe deep and make sure all your feelings are locked up._

I sit down on the bed and lean back against the wall. Despite what she told me, I can't help a couple of tears from falling down my face. I heard the horror in Teddy's voice as he found me in the cockpit of that machine. They thought I was unconscious but I wasn't yet. I clearly heard when Teddy and Piper found me in the machine. Even now, they're probably trying to make up excuses as to why I did it. They might even be on their way down here to see me right now. They're going to be in for a shock…

I push the thought to the back of my mind. I'm more worried about the fact that she gave me a mission and I was captured before I completed it. She won't be happy with me, but I remember that she told me that if I messed up and got captured, it wouldn't be the end of the world. She said she had another plan. I can't help grinning. Stupid OWCA has no idea what's coming.

"Mayfair?"

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts that I actually missed my friends' arrival. They all look very worried. I think about giving them a smirk but I decide to play it cool for now.

"Teddy," I say.

He looks half-confused, half-scared. "Why did you do it?"

"Y-you were mind-controlled, right?" comes Lennie's voice.

He and Nick are each perching on one of Teddy's shoulders. I give Lennie a hard stare; back before basic training, Lennie bullied my brother, Parker. When I joined Teddy's circle of friends, Lennie gave me a very lukewarm apology. He never apologised to Parker. I know he's mellowed since then, but I've never forgiven him for how he made Parker feel when he was only a year old. I'm going to enjoy watching him die.

Nick, however. I like Nick. He's always been really nice to me. If I hadn't spent all those *cough* wasted *cough* years loving Teddy, I might have loved Nick. He's sweet but really brave, loyal, and compassionate. Maybe I'll ask to spare his life.

"Sure," I say in answer to Lennie's question. "If it helps you sleep at night."

Lennie and Nick exchange a look. "I think we'll leave you guys alone," Nick says.

I don't want Nick to leave but before I can say so, Nick flies off and Lennie scampers down from Teddy's shoulder. They both disappear.

"Tell us the truth," commands Piper.

Those four words, coming out of the mouth of the person I hate the most in this world, makes me so angry that my vision actually turns red. Very quickly, I stand up and slam my fist against the glass, holding it there. Piper flinches. "I don't take orders from you," I hiss, my voice filled with so much venom that it alone could have floored an elephant. " _You_ hurt _me._ " I have a whole rant prepared but looking at Piper, once my friend, makes me feel disgusted that I ever liked her. Letting out a short, bitter laugh, I shake my head, my eyes narrowed, contempt clearly written on my face. "You're not even worthy of a rant."

"What happened to you?" Teddy asks quietly.

" _You_ happened to me," I snarl. Okay, so it's a little cliché, but it's actually true. "I loved you for half of my entire life, and what do you give me in return? You made me feel like absolute _garbage_ after we kissed. I spent so long hating myself, thinking I'd completely ruined my chances with you, when in reality I should have seen that I never had _any_ chance with you! You have _no_ idea how long I spent crying, and hating myself, and not doing anything else because I thought you hated me!"

"May…" Teddy whispers.

"DON'T CALL ME MAY!" I scream, my voice reverberating around my tiny cell.

Teddy and Piper stagger back. I turn away from them and sit on the bed.

"Mayfair, we can help you," pleads Teddy. "If you just tell us-."

"How can I make this clear to you?" I say, turning to them. "How about this: I am no longer an agent of OWCA. I don't care about any of you. I work for the bad side now."

Piper's hand covers her mouth. _"Why?"_ Teddy gasps.

I shake my head at him. "I knew you'd do this. I knew you wouldn't accept this. She told me you inherited your stubbornness from your father."

I see that Teddy picked up on what I said. "She? What do you mean?"

I leave him waiting for a moment. "Do you really think I'll tell you that?"

Piper is the one who shakes her head. "No, we didn't. Come, Teddy. We're done here."

"Yes, yes we are," Teddy says, with an incredibly sad look on his face.

They both walk away, leaving me alone.

…

 **:(**


	23. Her Brother's Heartbreak

**Here's some more Mayfair.**

…

 **Harry's POV**

The moment that I saw my daughter being dragged, unconscious, to the cells, was the second worst moment of my life, only behind the day Maggie died. I hadn't actually gone to the show's afterparty, so I didn't know about the attack. All I knew was that I suddenly saw my daughter being locked up in a cell.

After Perry's son and his friends leave, Karen and Parker arrive, looking really worried.

"Have you seen her yet?" Karen asks fearfully.

I shake my head. "Major Monogram told Perry's son and his friends that they could go in first."

"Why?" snaps Parker. "We're her family!"

"Calm down, Parker," I say, putting my hand on my son's shoulder.

Parker wrenches away from my touch. "I won't calm down! We should have seen her first!"

"We can see her now," Karen appeases.

Cassie, who's standing on the other side of the door, snorts. "Good luck with that."

I'm glad she doesn't say anything else; I think Parker might explode.

She buzzes us through. Scared at what we'll find, the three of us head through. Parker clutches Karen's hand with both of his hands. We slowly walk to the only lit cell. Karen stops just before we get to the cell. Parker stops too. I can tell they want me to go on ahead, in case what we see is really bad. We don't know what kind of state Mayfair is in.

I slowly go to stand in front of the lit cell. I see my daughter lying on the bed, with her eyes closed, looking way more relaxed than she should be. I gently tap on the glass, unable to trust my voice to work. Her eyes open and she looks at me. Her face turns slightly pale. "Hi, Dad," she says.

I put both my hands on the glass. "How are you feeling?"

She regards me coolly. "Despotic," she replies eventually.

That thoroughly shocks me. "May, what happened to you?"

"I'll tell you what happened," she snarls, getting up and slowly walking to the glass. "Teddy the Platypus happened. He led me on, let me love him, and then he cast me aside and got together with Piper the Platypus."

"That's…" I don't know what to say. " _That's_ why you injured and nearly killed three dozen OWCA agents? Perry the Platypus's son broke your heart?"

"He didn't break my heart, Dad." She glares through the glass at me. "I gave him my heart and he wrapped it in sharp thorns, tore it to shreds, and stomped on the pieces."

"Many people get their hearts broken, May!" I can't believe what she's telling me. "But they don't attack other people because of it."

"You think I only have one motive to destroy OWCA?" Her words send a chill down my spine. "Teddy's betrayal just tipped me over the edge. I've never been welcome here, you know that. Nobody liked me, nobody praised me. I've always been an underachiever."

"How come you've never told me this before?" I ask quietly.

She carries on as if I haven't spoken though her voice gets louder. "I've never been chosen for any mission before! ALL of my four friends have been on missions before, but of course Perry the Platypus's son will be given missions! The son of OWCA's top agent gets the good missions, and the rest of us with low-down agents like you for parents are relegated to the sidelines!"

That feels like a stab to the gut for me, especially coming from my own daughter.

"Teddy tipped me over the edge!" She seems to be at the peak of his anger. "I am not going to stop until the OWCA building is in flames and all its agents are dead! I will spare no agent!" She stops suddenly. "Is Parker here?"

I'm not sure if I should tell her that but I slowly nod. She actually turns a little paler. "And is he within hearing distance?"

"Yes, yes I am," says Parker, coming forwards. He and Karen join me in front of the glass. Parker's shaking slightly and I can see tears falling down his face. "What happened to you?" he whispers. "What happened to my big sister, the one I snaffled macarons for, the one who defended me from bullies, the one who made up stories for me when I was younger?"

Mayfair stares at Parker with such a sad look on her face. "I didn't want you to find out this way," she says quietly. "I didn't want you to hate me for what I did. I wanted a chance to explain to you in my own terms. Despite what I just said, I would have spare both you and my friend Nick." She glares at Karen and I. "But you," she snarls. "You never tried to understand me."

"We tried…!" Karen whispers, clutching my paw. "Please, you have to understand that we tried!"

"YOU NEVER TRIED!" she shrieks. She then takes a deep breath and says, "Get Parker out of here if you want to talk to me more."

I shake my head sadly. "I think we're done here."

 **Parker's POV**

"I want to stay for a moment," I say. "On my own."

Mom and Dad exchange a glance, before they nod. "We'll wait for you by the door," Mom says. "If you're not out in five minutes, we'll come and get you."

They leave. As soon as they're out of sight, Mayfair gently says to me, "Parker, please understand, I didn't do this because of you."

I can't help it. I fall to my knees by the side of the glass and bend my head, feeling the tears fall down my face like a waterfall. My fists rest on the glass on either side of my head. "It doesn't matter why you did it," I sob. "Only that you did it."

I stand up slowly and lean against the glass to support myself. This is way too much for my five-year-old brain to handle. Through my blurred vision, I see Mayfair looking shocked. "Parker-."

"Don't talk to me." I have no idea how I'm keeping my voice from screaming, because that's all I want to do right now. "Don't even talk to me!"

I steady myself and look straight at Mayfair through my hazy eyes. "You're not my sister. Not anymore."

She staggers like she's been punched. I turn and run and I don't look back.

…

 **Anyone else crying yet? I certainly am :'(**


	24. A Plan

**Just be warned: this chapter is going to be the calm before the storm…**

…

 **Teddy's POV**

Lennie and Nick head off to check on the injured in the hospital wing once we're outside. Piper and I talk things over. We decide that, even though we've been mates for only a day, we're ready to take the first step.

We head up to Major Monogram's office. On our way, we bump into a familiar face.

"Luke!" cries Piper, throwing her arms around him.

"Hi, Piper," smiles Luke.

"I didn't know you were being released today," I say.

Luke shrugs. "Apparently Apollo needs the space and, since my wound was all healed, he discharged me." His face changes to sympathy. "I heard about Mayfair. It must be hard for you to accept."

The problem is: I'm not sure I _have_ accepted it. My brain is telling me that Mayfair has turned, but my heart doesn't want to accept it.

I just say, "Yeah, it is."

Piper automatically takes my hand, interlocking our fingers. Luke sees this, and he also sees on my face the sudden panic that flows through me. He grins. "I'm not going to throw you off a building, Teddy. I know how much you care about each other."

"Do you give your blessing?" asks Piper.

It's a bit old fashioned; the animal equivalent of a male human asking a female human's dad for her hand in marriage.

Luke nods. "I hope that it will make up for how badly I treated you and your dad, Teddy."

I'm shaking my head even before he finishes his sentence. "Luke, you more than made up for your behaviour when you saved my dad's life. In our eyes, you made up for it twenty times over."

"Really?"

Thinking I should be clearer, I say, "You took a bullet for him, man."

"True…" Luke thinks for a moment. "Have you had any training since the mission?"

I shake my head.

"Then when you're ready, just say the word, and I'll begin your training properly."

"Hey, even before you forgave Dad, you did invite me on a mission," I point out.

"Yeah, well, I was hoping you'd get shot."

 _"_ _Luke!"_ hisses Piper, nudging her brother.

"Pipes, I'm kidding." He pauses. "More or less."

He grins at Piper's irritated face. "I better be off. I need to have a word with Perry."

We both wave. Three weeks ago, I would have secretly followed him, not trusting that he wouldn't attack my dad. But I see that he's changed. He doesn't blame Dad anymore. He doesn't hate Dad anymore.

We carry on to Major Monogram's office. I knock on the door and receive the usual "come in".

We enter the office and find Carl in the corner doing some paperwork while Monogram himself sits behind his desk. "Ah, Agents Teddy and Piper. What can I do for you?"

"We need to talk to you about housing," Piper starts. "We want to move into our own house together."

"Ah." Major Monogram puts down his coffee mug. "Well…I was intending to tell everyone this in a couple of weeks, but…I need you not to tell anybody, okay?"

We nod simultaneously.

"Truth is: the underground village isn't working as well as we hoped," Monogram confesses. "We've had a couple of problems with plumbing and flooding. We want to upgrade to renewable electricity but we can't underground. Plus, we've already run out of space, and people have been complaining about the weather. They miss the rain and the snow. So we have a bid come in for the underground land, and we're going to build a special town, aboveground, a little way away from Danville. We'll still have easy access to Danville, but we'll be able to have more space, renewable energy, and natural seasons. The housing concept will be the same us underground, though."

"Have you already started building?" Piper asks.

Monogram looks a bit uncomfortable. "Yes," he replies simply. "I've secretly paid special agents from COWCA to come and start building. They've finished all OWCA's houses now, though we will build more as the population increases, and they're starting work on more houses.."

"Why do we need more?" I ask.

"Well…you really need to not tell anybody this, but a lot of COWCA's agents are joining OWCA."

"What?" Piper and I gasp.

"David—Captain Colophon—sadly died in an attack on COWCA headquarters two weeks ago," Monogram says sadly. "They have no successor. That's mostly why COWCA's agents have been building the town for such a small wage; they're going to be living in it too."

"Even the human agents?" inquires Piper.

"Even the human agents," Monogram confirms. "And the staff. But when I do announce this to the other agents, I'll need everyone available to help build the restaurants and other recreational buildings."

"Recreational buildings?" I repeat.

Monogram nods. "Skating rinks, cinemas, that kind of thing."

"Who will work in them?" I ask.

"Well, not all animals born to OWCA agents will want to join OWCA," Monogram says fairly. "They might want to pursue careers as chefs or something. Besides, once OWCA agents retire at age thirty to forty, there's an age gap from that age to the age where they become elderly, at about sixty or sixty-five. Our idea-" Monogram glances over at Carl, who's been following our conversation. "-was that they might want to save up for a kind of pension, and doing gentle work like in a restaurant or cinema might be just the kind of thing they need."

"It's a great plan," Piper says. "So when will you tell everybody else?"

"As soon as it's clear whether our bidder will or will not take the land," he replies. "Whether he takes the land or not-."

At that moment, the door to Monogram's office bursts open. Monogram himself stands up and sternly addresses the agent who has just come in: "Agent Luke, you really need to knock before you-."

"Sir, Perry's been kidnapped!" Luke pants. He has a brand new cut along the side of his head. "And the prison's been broken into; Mayfair's escaped!"

…

 **Dun dun DUUUN!**


	25. The Face Of Truth

**We now return to OWCA headquarters, where things continue to happen! REFERENCE! *high fives self***

…

 **Priya's POV**

When Luke tells me that Perry has been kidnapped, I have to ignore the impulse to faint because if I do faint, I'll waste valuable time. However, I can't stop the agonising fear that springs into my heart. Just like my first mission against Doctor Diminutive, a mixture of tears and sweat is trickling down my face, I can't breathe or think properly, my heart is thudding in my chest, I feel both hot and cold at the same time, and my tail and body are shaking.

Now I'm standing in Major Monogram's office, waiting on orders, while the major himself is out looking for clues with Carl.

Teddy can't stop moving. He walks from one side of the room to the other, picks up and moves stuff, and keeps shooting looks at the clock.

Hazel, who was called from the training room by Carl, is sitting on the chair behind Monogram's desk, her face red from crying. She has her arms on the desk, with her head resting on them and her eyes staring off into space.

Piper's sitting on the desk next to Luke. Both are clutching each other in that way that siblings do when they need comfort. Piper's eyes are following Teddy's movements, and Luke is staring out the window.

 **Luke's POV**

Stupid. I'm so stupid. I can't believe how stupid I was. It's all my fault. If I had reacted faster, Perry wouldn't have been taken.

I'm trying to watch birds and things going on outside the window, trying to focus on something other than what happened, but I can only think about how everything went wrong in the space of ten seconds.

 _"_ _Luke!" Perry greets me in the mission prep building. "I'm glad to see you're better."_

 _"_ _Yes, Apollo discharged me this morning," I tell him. "L-listen, I wanted to apologise about-."_

 _Perry stops me by holding up his hand. "You don't need to apologise for anything. You took a bullet for me and saved my life. That more than makes up for any kind of unpleasantness between us."_

 _I manage a smile. "That's almost word-for-word what Teddy said."_

 _"_ _It's like we're related," Perry deadpans._

 _I grin as I nudge Perry. "Speaking of Teddy, have you heard that he and my sister are mates now?"_

 _Perry nods. "It's great for them, isn't it? One can tell they really love each other."_

 _All of a sudden, something kicks me hard in the side, sending me tumbling into the wall. I hit my head hard on the smooth surface and slide to the bottom on my side, dazed._

 _"_ _Luke!"_

 _I see Perry start towards me but then a figure wrapped in shadows stabs a syringe into Perry's neck. "Perry!" I try to yell, though my voice comes out only as a croaking gasp._

 _Then the figure comes up to me and kicks me in the head, and everything goes black._

"Luke?"

Piper's talking to me. I tear my gaze away from the window and look at my sister. "Yes?"

"What happened wasn't your fault."

"I never said it was."

"You have that look," Piper says accusingly. "You're thinking about the incident and blaming yourself for it."

Damn, she's perceptive. I slowly nod.

"I knew it." Her voice isn't quite triumphant but it's nearly there. "Luke-."

""There's nothing you could have done"," I interrupt bitterly. "Is that what you were going to say?"

"Yes it was," Piper snaps, undeterred.

"It really wasn't your fault," Teddy's mom, Priya, pipes up. She looks ill with worry about her mate but she's trying to keep a calm exterior. "Nobody, not even Perry or I, would have expected an attack coming when it did. You can't beat yourself up just because you don't have the ability to see the future."

"Dad blamed himself for what happened to your parents," Teddy suddenly speaks. "Even though there was nothing he could have done. I think it's a natural part of our nature; to blame ourselves for a bad event if we were there."

 **Priya's POV**

At that moment, Major Monogram comes back into his office, holding a black trash bag. Everybody immediately crowds round him.

"Did you find anything?" I ask anxiously.

Monogram nods tiredly. "Whoever took Agent P knows how to play a dangerous game."

From the bag, he takes out a familiar item and casually tosses it onto his desk. We all peer at it. Piper is the first to recognise it. She starts shaking. "Th-that's a red apple," she stammers. "From Maze Mayhem."

"Whoever's taken Dad must be hiding in the maze," Hazel states.

"They are," confirms Monogram. "Carl found that all the display devices are missing and the maze has been changed."

"Changed?" I repeat. "How so?"

"The maze's layout can be changed at the push of a button," Monogram explains. "To keep agents on their toes. Otherwise, if the team has to do the same layout over and over again, it doesn't test them as well on the second and third times. Unfortunately, the same device can change the size of the maze, and it's on the largest setting."

"Great," sighs Teddy, annoyed. "So the maniac who took Dad is hiding in the middle of a maze about one square mile big, and we have no maps to find the middle."

"Not to mention that the five items have to be found first," Piper adds. "Before we can enter the middle."

Monogram shakes his head. "I'll need every available agent on this. Unfortunately, I've already sent most of our agents out to find Agent P in the Tri State Area."

"So we need to gather whoever's here and go," I say. "Now."

Monogram does not rebuke me. "I'll round up a team."

 **Perry's POV**

The first thing I feel is the cold, hard floor I'm lying on my front on. The second thing I feel is the splitting pain in my forehead. I groan with pain as I raise myself onto my elbows.

 _What happened…?_

I was with Luke. I was thanking him for saving my life…then something pushed him into a wall and knocked him out…then everything went dark…

"Oh good, you're awake."

I hear the sardonic voice and recognise it, though my fuzzy brain can't quite place it. I try to get up so I can see the body the voice belongs to, but my strength fails and I only flop onto my back. "Jesus…" I choke out.

"Don't try and fight it," says the cold yet slightly amused voice. "We injected you with a syringe full of a type of poison that affected your brain and knocked you out. Your brain's still waking up, so don't try and hinder or help the process."

"Who the hell are you?" I manage to ask.

My vision focuses somewhat, and I see that I'm in a small room. There are bars in front of me; I'm in a small cage. It's almost completely dark, and as the voice replies to my question, I pinpoint the location of the voice to a particularly dark corner.

"Let's just say I'm someone you know quite well, Perry."

I look around the room again. My vision is coming back to me now. I can see the small, square room. It's about the size of four standard OWCA office cubicles put together in a square. There are exactly sixty monitors on the wall at one end, in five rows of twelve. About twenty random monitors show static but the others show pictures that I can't quite see from here. The rest of the room is bare.

"Where am I?" I demand, my voice growing stronger.

"You tell me."

I bite back a retort _("I asked because I don't know!")_ and feel the floor. It's metallic and quite thin.

"Well, I'd say that this room is standalone, and not part of a building."

"Good," says the voice, sounding genuinely impressed. "Since you've impressed me, I'll tell you where we are: we're in the middle of a one mile squared maze. I've left a clue for the others to follow."

"They're going to be here soon," I snap, hoping I sound braver than I feel. "Then you'll be in trouble."

"Trouble?" repeats the voice. "You really don't know me at all, do you, Perry?"

That one question chills me.

"I know that Major Monogram has sent out all available agents to look for you. Only a few agents and staff will be back at HQ. Carl, Apollo, and Artemis make up sixty percent of the OWCA staff." A scoff. "I'm not worried about them."

"Hey!" I shout. "Carl and the twins are hard-working and the best in their fields!"

"Good for you." The voice's tone gets a little colder. "Then there's your family: Priya, Teddy, and Hazel."

I freeze.

"Oh, and your mother and newest daughter. They'll be at home, no doubt. Maybe I should pay them a visit."

I hit the bars hard with my fist in anger and yell, "Leave my family alone!"

"Looks like I struck a nerve, there."

I can almost hear the smile in the voice. This at least allows me to determine that the voice is female.

"My friend will make sure you have a good position from which to watch your friends and family die."

Out of the shadows comes…

"Mayfair…!" I clutch the bars tightly.

The cat smirks, and in that moment she looks almost exactly like Cassie, which is weird because she's not related to Cassie. Or is she? I think Priya once told me that Cassie and Karen, Mayfair's mother, are sisters.

She lifts up my cage with surprising strength and puts it on a small table that I had missed in my sweep of the room. Now I can see the monitors: the pictures are of the hedge maze.

I turn back to the corner from which the voice comes. "Just tell me who you are!" I plead.

I hear the sound of someone standing up. "As you wish."

The person comes into the light. My face drains of colour and a wave of nausea washes over me as I see my captor.

It's Jodie the Jaguar.

…

 ***le gasp* I wish I could say I'm surprised but you know I've been planning this since like chapter 1 *smiles***


	26. Two Generations Bonding

**Because things have been so dark recently, have some adorable baby Quinn! It's an incredibly short chapter but please enjoy :)**

…

 **Pearl's POV**

I swear as the pot clangs to the ground. _Keep it together, Pearl,_ I chide myself. _You're worried about Perry, but Priya and the agents of OWCA will find him. Your granddaughter needs you more right now._

At that moment, I hear baby Quinn crying in the living room. I hurry into the room and find Quinn in her bouncy chair with her rattle on the floor. I quickly pick up the rattle and shake it gently in front of Quinn's face. The baby platypus starts laughing as she reaches out with a tiny hand for the rattle. I put it in her hand and she shakes it as violently as a two-day-old platypus can. She shakes it so hard that it flies out of her hand and hits me on the beak. It hurts, but I smile and hand the rattle back to Quinn, who deliberately drops it on the floor. I start bouncing the little bouncy chair, to Quinn's delight. She shrieks with glee as the mobile above her head shakes and jingles.

I smile at the mobile. We made it ourselves from plastic. Everybody made and inputted one part. Perry gave a little fedora, Priya gave a cookie, Teddy gave a flower, Hazel gave a little platypus, and I gave a heart. Quinn bats at the flower with a tiny hand. I stretch out a finger to stroke her cheek, remembering too late what Perry said about what Quinn does to fingers.

I can't help laughing as Quinn takes my finger and puts it in her mouth, sucking on it as if it were a bottle. I silently feel relieved that I had washed my hands a few minutes ago. I gently take my finger out of Quinn's mouth and give her the rattle back. But apparently Quinn's in a sucky mood; she begins sucking on the plastic rattle. I snap a couple of pictures with my phone as Quinn happily shakes the rattle.

When Quinn begins to hit the plastic fedora hanging over her head, I aim my phone camera at her and begin a video to show Perry and Priya when they get back. Quinn slaps the fedora, making it swing wildly.

My heart almost stands still when Quinn's baby mouth opens and a word that sound suspiciously like "hat" comes out of it. I hurriedly re-aim the camera at her in the hopes that she'll say it again.

"Hat!" proclaims Quinn, hitting the fedora again.

My mouth falls open as I grin widely. I press stop on the video and take my granddaughter out of the bouncy chair. Quinn squeals as I hug her and swing her around the room. Then I throw her gently into the air and catch her, something I saw Priya do yesterday. "Well done, Quinn!" I laugh. "You said hat!"

"Hat!" Quinn shrieks again. "Hat!"

For the rest of the afternoon, I play happily with my granddaughter, almost all thoughts of Perry's disappearance out of my mind. After all, I couldn't do anything to help Perry, but I could look after and entertain his daughter.

…

 **Okay, this might be the cutest chapter I have ever written. Also, one of my favourites. I mean, Quinn is freaking ADORABLE!**


	27. Maze Mayhem Round 2 part 1

**Please do PM me and tell me if you see any mistakes/plotholes. All criticism is welcome :)**

…

 **Priya's POV**

There's a small number of us gathered outside the maze. And when I say a "small number", I mean a small number. There's me, Teddy, Hazel, Piper, Parker, Luke, Sam, Cassie, and Ravi. Also, we have Apollo, Artemis, and Carl who are going to go in on the opposite side to us.

As we get ready to go into the maze, we suddenly hear a familiar voice shout, "Wait for us!"

Coming towards us is a man in a lab coat and a dark-skinned woman wearing a knee-length summer dress.

I recognise them. "Heinz and Kata!"

"I heard about Perry the Platypus," Heinz says. "That's why I'm coming to help."

I smile. "Thank you."

"Okay, teams," says Major Monogram, who's holding a clipboard. "Apollo, Artemis, Carl, Heinz, and Kata will go in on the north side and look for the centre. Everybody else will fan out and look for the objects. As soon as they've all been found, the centre will open, and that's where Agent P is."

We all nod.

"Mom, Dad!" calls a young female voice.

I turn to see two young girls running towards the group. They are both about thirteen years old, and they both have dark skin like Kata's.

Heinz goes to them. "Girls, we told you to wait inside. Rai, I put you in charge."

The one Heinz called Rai pouts. "I know, but we want to help you."

"It's way too dangerous," Kata says, going to stand beside her husband.

"But we want-!" the other one begins.

"Shika, it's too dangerous for you!" Kata interrupts. "Listen, how about you two stay with Major Monogram and help monitor us from the outside? That way, you can still help but you'll be out of danger."

"It's either that or go back inside and not help at all," adds Heinz.

 **Teddy's POV**

Major Monogram agrees to their plan, and we all get ready to go into the maze.

"One final note," Monogram says. "Not only is the maze itself very large, whoever's controlling the maze has also upped the trap level to the highest one. It's gonna be quite deadly."

Mom turns to Hazel and Parker. "In that case, I think you two should stay here."

"No," says Parker immediately. "I'm coming. Mayfair's probably in the maze somewhere. I need to get through to her."

"And I'm going to help find Dad," Hazel adds firmly. "Besides, we're agents in training. I'm nearly a full agent. We can handle it."

Mom hesitates. "Okay," she consents. "But be careful."

"We will," Parker and Hazel chorus.

We head towards the entrances. Whoever's behind this has added a lot of entrances, so we all go to one each. As soon as I go through mine, the entrance closes behind me and turns into a normal hedge.

 _Great,_ I think. _Now I'm trapped._

I run round the corner and am annoyingly faced immediately with a crossroads. I try to make a quick decision but I am interrupted by someone coming round the corner.

"Teddy!" shouts Piper.

She has stopped in the middle of the passageway, just around the corner. I turn towards her, happy to see her, but Piper's face is a picture of alarm. "Behind you!" she screams.

I whirl round and find herself facing a huge boulder. The second thing I notice about it is that it is barrelling towards me. I dive sideways down one of the side passages and land on the ground. To my relief, the boulder doesn't follow me. I scramble up and hurry round the corner. The boulder has just turned the corner. I panic when I don't see Piper but then I see her coming out of the hedge. I sigh in relief. Piper hurries over to me, warily glancing round for more threats.

"This place is manic," she says. "I got attacked by darts coming out of the walls earlier."

"Seen anyone else?" I ask.

"No," Piper replies worriedly.

Someone suddenly and noisily rounds the corner. Piper and I whip round, but when we see who the newcomer is, we sigh with relief and relax.

"Luke!"

Piper runs towards her brother and they hug. "Are you okay?" Luke asks.

"We're okay," replies Piper. "How about you?"

"I just escaped a trap where the floor was falling out," states Luke.

"We were attacked too," I say. "Huge boulder rolling towards us."

"We seriously need to find the centre and get out of here," Luke says.

 **Sam's POV**

I am very much concentrating on getting to the centre of the maze as soon as possible when I find the victim of the latest trap. I hurtle round the corner and find Priya lying on her back in the very middle of the passage. Her face is turned away from me but I'm sure she's unconscious. The event that spurs me into action is the giant boulder coming round the corner, heading straight for Priya.

I lunge forward and smash the boulder into a million tiny pieces with my fist. I stand in front of the debris, astonished at my own strength. I pick up a big-ish piece of the boulder and manage to rip it apart with just my hands. _It must be a fake,_ I realise. _Strong enough to kill when hitting a person, but weak enough that a punch will destroy it._

I rush back to Priya's side and shake her shoulder gently. No response. A noise makes me warily look up. A moment later, a familiar cat agent hurtles round the corner and stops dead in the middle of the passage when she catches sight of me.

"Cassie," I breathe with relief.

"Sam, this maze is huge!" Cassie says worriedly, striding towards me.

"I know," I sigh. "It's going to be a while before we reach the centre."

Cassie's eyes swing round to survey the scene. It is only now that she happens to notice Priya.

"Priya! Is she okay?" Cassie asks worriedly.

"She's hurt."

"How did it happen?"

"I don't know but we need to move her," I reply. "It's not safe out here, what with the dart traps and boulders and-"

"Look out!" Cassie suddenly screams, lunging at me and pressing me to the ground.

I twist my head up and see several sharp-looking spears fly over us, exactly where my head was just seconds before.

Cassie hesitantly pushes herself up. "Is there anything else you can see?"

I warily glance around for more threats. "No. Nothing."

Priya stirs just then. I sit down next to her and help her sit up. Cassie sits down on Priya's other side.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"What happened?" Priya mutters. "Wasn't there a giant boulder?"

"That's gone," I reassure him. "I took care of it."

I watch as Cassie opens her mouth, probably to angrily say that it was both me and her who helped Priya. Then she realises that she helped me with the spear trap, not the boulder.

"Can you remember what happened?" Cassie asks Priya.

Priya nods shakily. "Boulder," she says simply. "Dodged but I think I hit my head on the wall."

"Can you stand up?" I ask her.

"I think so." We help Priya stand. Her legs wobble for a moment before she is able to stand on her own. "Okay," she says bravely. "I think I'm good."

"What should we do now?" I ask.

Suddenly an inhuman shriek sounds round the corner, making them all jump.

"What was that?" Priya gasps.

A second later, we find out.

…

 **What is it? Find out next time :)**


	28. Maze Mayhem Round 2 part 2

**Here it is!**

…

 **Sam's POV**

A creature three metres tall and almost that many wide comes lumbering round the corner. It has the purple body of a tiger, the yellow neck and head of a giraffe, the grey tail of an elephant, and the eight white legs of a spider.

The seemingly innocent head turns towards the three of us and then roars like a lion. Cassie screams. Priya and I lower into battle stances.

"What the hell is that?" Cassie shouts.

I leap to the left and Cassie leaps to the right as one of its spider-like legs smashes into the spot where we just were. Priya dodges another strike from the same leg, rolling over until she ends up underneath the creature, which angrily searches round for her. I signal to Cassie and the two of us dive under the monster to join Priya.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Cassie inquires as we move wherever the Fusion moves to try and avoid detection. "Because I'm all out."

"No ideas at all," Priya replies.

I shrug. "Let's not fight it now."

"What?" gasps Priya. "What else can we do? It's blocking our path!"

"Exactly. Let's unblock it."

Cassie's grinning. "This'll be fun."

Without waiting for either of us, she leaps out from under the monster and deals the Fusion a kick to one of its legs.

That did nothing at all.

"Move!" I scream as the Fusion wheels about to Cassie, who is standing in her spot, suddenly frozen in fear.

As the Fusion's spikey leg darts like lightning towards Cassie, I lunge at my friend to try and push her out the way. I don't get there in time but, luckily, Cassie manages to unfreeze at the last second and dives out of the way. Unluckily, like me, she doesn't manage it in time.

The spike at the end of the Fusion's leg impales Cassie through her right shoulder. Cassie lets out a cry of pain as I finally manage to get to my friend. I push Cassie, not hard, but enough to slide the leg out of Cassie's shoulder, making the Fusion stumble backwards until it catches its leg in the floor. Priya appears out of nowhere and catches Cassie as she collapses backwards.

"Let's get outta here!" Priya gasps. "The path's open!"

Trying to ignore the steady dripping of blood from Cassie's wound, I rush to my friends and help Priya support Cassie. With one of Cassie's arms over both my and Priya's shoulders, we duck around the Fusion and dash for the corner. With barely any time to spare, Priya and I, with Cassie in between us, finally manage to make it around the corner.

 **Ravi's POV**

Once I went into the maze, I found the small yellow stone within a few minutes so I don't know what to do now.

Just then, I hear a scream in a male voice. I whirl round, trying to figure out where the voice came from.

Then another scream from the same voice. I pinpoint the direction it came from and I run that way. As I round a corner, I literally bump into someone coming the other way. We both fall over.

I scramble up and hold out my hand to Hazel. "I'm so sorry," I apologise. "I didn't see you."

"Hey, no worries," Hazel says, accepting my hand. I pull her to her feet. "It was just as much my fault as yours."

Another scream sounds. "I was trying to locate that," Hazel says, pointing upwards.

"I thought it was coming from the direction you just came in," I say.

Hazel turns and faces the way she just came. "Yeah, I think you're right. Let's go."

The two of us run as fast as we can, past endless hedges. Suddenly, Hazel skids to a stop. I also skid to a stop a few metres away from her. "What's wrong?"

"I've never done this exercise before, but isn't that a golden leaf?"

"Yes!" I pump the air as Hazel holds out the leaf to me. "That's the hardest one to find and you found it!" I take out the stone. "And here's the yellow stone. That's two!"

Another scream makes me remember my priorities. "Oh, right."

We put away the items and after about thirty seconds of running, I notice that we're coming up to a cliff edge. I skid to a halt just in front of the edge, grabbing Hazel's tail to make sure she doesn't fall in.

"What the hell is this?" Hazel snaps. "How the hell is there a cliff in this maze?"

"I have no idea," I state.

What looks like a metal wire tightrope is strung up parallel to the edge of the cliff, about a metre away. A black railing is stretched out about halfway round the cliff edge.

"Help!" cries a male voice.

I spin round to my left and find a small purple hyena clutching the rope desperately with both hands. His face was the picture of terror.

"Parker!" I shout. "Hold on!"

I rush to the edge of the cliff in front of me with Hazel at my side.

"Help!" Parker cries again.

"That's a deep cliff," Hazel comments, staring down into the abyss.

Parker looks like he's about to cry.

"Not helping," I tell her. "Take my hand."

Hazel looks surprised that I'm talking to her and not Parker but she takes hold of my left hand.

"Don't let go," I warn.

Using my left foot as leverage against the cliff, I reach out my right hand towards Parker. "Hey," I say as calmly and reassuringly as I can. "Hold on, Parker. It's all right."

Parker stares back at me, completely terrified.

"I promise it'll be okay."

Parker glances down into the pit below him. I can't see anything down there. It is completely black. I'm stretched out in such a way that if Hazel lets go of my hand, I would tumble straight down into the abyss. I would have absolutely no chance of surviving if Hazel lets go. I know that Hazel wouldn't let go of me on purpose, but she's only seven years old. I'm praying that she is strong enough to do this.

Parker looks back up at me. "I'm going to fall!" he says shrilly.

"No you're not," I say, holding out my hand further. "Take my hand. You'll be okay."

"You can't promise that!" Parker cries.

"Yes I can," I say firmly. "Because I'm going to make sure that you don't fall. Trust me."

Parker's terror-stricken face stares into mine. Parker seems to hear some kind of truth in my words because he very slowly detaches his left hand from the rope and shakily holds it out to me. Hazel takes hold of the metal black bar so that I can lean out further. Parker reaches as far as he could. Our hands are almost touching.

All of a sudden, the tightrope-thing breaks.

…

 **PARKER! *le gasp***


	29. Maze Mayhem Round 2 part 3

**Back to Perry :)**

…

 **Perry's POV**

I'm watching the whole thing on the monitors. I see my son nearly get crushed by a boulder. I see my mate get knocked out. I see Cassie get stabbed. I see Ravi and my daughter find two of the five items.

Now I'm watching them try and save Parker. My heart is in my throat as I throw a wary glance at Mayfair, who's standing beside my cage and also watching. Her body below her waist tells me that she is relaxed. Her posture, and the casual crossed way she holds her feet are betrayed when I look up at her upper body, and find that her arms and torso are tense. In addition, her left hand is clutching the barred top of my cage tightly and her other hand is tightly holding the material of her short dress. She's very uneasy, and so she should be. Despite the fact that she turned on OWCA, she still cares very deeply for her brother.

Jodie's sitting back in her corner, watching the monitors as well. It's still pitch black in her corner, so I can't see her, but I can hear her. I think she's eating popcorn. It's both incredibly irritating and slightly amusing.

"I'm going to fall!" we hear Parker cry.

Mayfair stiffens even more.

"No you're not," says Ravi. "Take my hand. You'll be okay."

"You can't promise that!" Parker cries.

"Yes I can," Ravi says firmly. "Because I'm going to make sure that you don't fall. Trust me."

They reach towards each other. All of a sudden, the rope breaks. Mayfair lets out a stifled scream.

 **Parker's POV**

Ravi lunges and catches my hand, though in the process the rabbit's hand is wrenched from Hazel's. The silver-furred platypus lets go of the bar and drops down a metre or so, grabbing the edge of the cliff and Ravi's foot in the same moment. Showing the strain of holding up both me and Ravi, Hazel manages to swing the two animals up to the cliff, where I am able to grab the bar and pull myself and Ravi onto the cliff edge. Then we help Hazel up.

I collapse on my back, breathing heavily. Hazel bends over me. "I'm fine," I wheeze. "Thanks, guys."

Ravi, who's lying next to me, gasps out, "No problem."

We stand up. Ravi suddenly gasps incredibly loudly and quickly pats himself down. After a moment, he brings out a yellow stone and gives a deep breath out. "Oh man, I almost had a heart attack because I thought I'd lost this." He turns to Hazel. "Have you still got the leaf?"

Hazel nods and brings out a small, golden object. "I still have it."

"Thank goodness," Ravi breathes out.

 **Perry's POV**

I can't stop the smile from spreading on my face. I'm incredibly proud of Hazel. She's not even a full agent yet and not only was she able to hold up a fully grown agent and a nearly-grown one, but she also managed to save both of their lives with her quick thinking.

I see Mayfair's grip on my cage relax slightly.

Jodie's voice comes into my hearing, and she sounds disappointed. "Aww man, I was hoping they'd fall."

"Of course you were," I say, none too quietly.

She ignores me. "Well, at least I got to see Cassie get hurt. I never liked her. Ooh, Mayfair, look! Artemis is about to get roasted by a fire pit!"

 _"_ _What?"_ I shriek.

 **Apollo's POV**

We hypothesize that we're getting close to the centre, but an argument's broken out between Kata and Carl. Kata thinks that Carl doesn't like her. Carl argues that he doesn't know her very well so he can't possibly like or dislike her. I think they've both forgotten that Kata met Carl when he and I infiltrated the Wentworth Club last year.

All of a sudden, the ground falls out from underneath our feet. Kata pulls Carl and Heinz backwards out of the way. Someone shoves me. I stumble forwards and land on the ground on the opposite side of the pit that's now formed. I can't see my sister. Coughing from the dust that's been thrown up, I call, "Artemis!"

Kata points down into the pit. "There!"

I crawl to the edge of the trench and peer in. The pit's about ten metres deep. There's a ledge about five metres down it, and that's where Artemis is. She's sitting on the ledge, with one leg tucked in and the other dangling off the ledge. She looks up at me. "Apollo, help!"

"I'm coming!" I shout.

I sit down on the edge of the pit with my legs dangling over the edge.

"Are you seriously going down there?" Kata yells from across the hole.

"Yep!" I shout back as I start edging into the hole.

"Are you crazy?" yells Heinz. "You'll die!"

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. "I'll be fine."

A moment later, however, I find that I will not be fine. My foot slips and takes me with it. My hand reaches out and clutches the edge of the pit to save myself from falling. "Okay, I _won't_ be fine."

Even from over here, I hear Kata's exasperated sigh as she comes around the side of the pit to save me.

I smell burning. I look down just as Artemis screams. The bottom of the pit is filling up with a substance that looks suspiciously like very hot lava.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Artemis screams.

Kata takes hold of my wrist but I shake my head and use my other hand to grab onto the edge as well. "If you go down my body, can you reach Artemis?"

Kata looks doubtful. "I'll try," she says. "But if you fall, we both die."

"Then either Carl or your husband can come over here and catch me!" I snap. "Please, we're running out of time!"

Kata signals to Carl and Heinz and begins to climb down my body. Heinz runs over and holds my wrists so that I don't fall.

 **Artemis's POV**

"Oh God…" I mutter as I feel the lava rising.

I let out a scream of pain as the lava spits some of the boiling acid onto my face.

"SAVE ARTEMIS!" I hear my brother holler.

"I'M TRYING!" screams Kata's voice back.

I'm starting to sweat from the heat. The lava is now three metres away from me.

 **Perry's POV**

My heart is in my mouth. I'm willing on the rescue efforts; Artemis has been a constant variable in my life, one of my best human friends, and I can't lose her. _Come on, Apollo._ The doctor loves Artemis even more than me. He's not going to let her die. _Come on…_

…

 **What will happen? Find out next!**


	30. Maze Mayhem Round 2 part 4

**Part 4**

…

 **Kata's POV**

My legs curled round Apollo's for grip, I reach for Artemis. "Hold up your hand!" I yell.

She does so. I reach down with my own hand. We're so close but I can't quite reach her hand.

"The ledge is breaking!" Artemis cries shrilly.

"Get her off the ledge!" Apollo yells from above me.

"DO YOU WANT TO COME DOWN HERE, NEARER TO THE LAVA, AND DO IT YOURSELF?" I bellow. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

To Artemis, I call, "Jump and grab my hand!"

"But the ledge will-!"

"Do it!"

Breathing heavily, she shakily bends her legs and leaps. It's not a big jump, but the ledge completely cracks. I catch Artemis's hands with both of my hands but the extra momentum completely ruins our plan.

 **Perry's POV**

When Artemis jumps, Kata loses her grip on Apollo's legs. Everything happens incredibly fast.

Five seconds later, Artemis's feet are only two metres above the lava; Kata's holding onto her hands; Apollo let go with one of his hands to grab Kata's foot; Heinz Doofenshmirtz has his whole torso in the pit, holding onto Apollo's other hand; and Carl's sprawled on the ground, holding onto Heinz's foot with one hand and with the other he's dug his fingers into the ground, but it's a very flimsy hold. If he lets go, all five of them will fall into the pit.

I watch in anguish as the young intern strains hard to keep the weight of four adults from falling into the lava.

 **Heinz's POV**

 _I love you, Kata. I'm so sorry neither of us will be able to look after Rai and Shika…_

 **Kata's POV**

 _I love you, Heinz. I'm glad I had the courage to come and find you eight years ago._

 **Carl's POV**

 _I've never been so scared in my life. I'm going to burn to death…why does it have to be my phobia that kills me?_

 **Apollo's POV**

 _Oh God, I'll never get the chance to say goodbye to Anton…I'm so sorry, Anton. Please forgive me…I love you._

 **Artemis's POV**

 _I wish there was some way out…Carl and Apollo are too young to die and Heinz and Kata have two fourteen-year-old children…none of us deserve to die._

 **Perry's POV**

I clutch the bars tightly and shake them. "Stop it!" I yell shrilly. "Leave them alone!"

I hear Jodie's voice immediately. "Why?"

"They're all going to die!"

"So they are."

To my surprise, Mayfair takes my side. "Jodie, I really do think we should let them live."

"Why?" Jodie repeats, though her voice has gone hard. "Why should I let them live?"

"You said you wouldn't kill anybody," Mayfair says accusingly. "Except Teddy, and you said you'd leave him for me."

That's not much better but at least I'll later be able to stop Mayfair from killing Teddy. Right now, Mayfair is the only one who can stop Jodie from letting Apollo, Artemis, Kata, Heinz, and Carl die.

Jodie pauses. I watch her with baited breath. _Please. Please. Please._

She sighs. "I guess there's always other opportunities. Besides, I kind of like Apollo and Carl."

She presses a button. The lava dissolves into the floor. Immediately after that, Carl loses his grip, and the five adults go tumbling into the pit. Their screams as they fall are horrible to listen to—but when they realise that they're alive, it's the most relieved I've ever felt in my life.

 **Heinz's POV**

Kata and I hug each other, silent tears running down both our faces. I don't know how we survived, but we survived and that's all that matters.

All of a sudden, the floor of the pit starts ascending at an alarming rate. It stops suddenly, throwing us all twenty feet into the air.

 **Mayfair's POV**

Apollo lands on his head and gets knocked out. Artemis manages to land on her toes so that her momentum carries her into a forward roll. Kata and Heinz clutch each other tightly and land equally on both their weights. Carl lands heavily on his leg.

I wince as I watch them all land. I've never liked Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Kata's attitude always irritated me, and Carl now hates me. But Apollo and Artemis have always been close to me, and watching them get hurt is not pleasant for me.

I sneak a glance at Perry. He's looking half-worried, half-relieved. I don't know why I hate him so much. It's Teddy who hurt me so badly. Sure, Perry's his dad, but he never did anything personally to me.

 **Piper's POV**

"I've found the silver statue!" I shout with jubilance.

I hold it aloft. Teddy's knees sag. "Thank goodness. We're one step closer to getting Dad back."

 **Parker's POV**

"We've got two of the items," I state. "The stone and the leaf. That leaves the statue, the necklace, and the apple to go."

"Well, we have the hardest-to-find item," points out Ravi. "Let's head straight to the centre so we can be there when the other items are found."

 **Cassie's POV**

Sam's trying to tend to my wound but it's hard because the pain's getting worse. Priya's standing off to one side, half watching me, half watching for threats. She doesn't like me because I don't like Perry.

Suddenly, I see something red glinting in the hedge. I lift up a shaky arm to point at it. Priya goes to the item and takes it out. "Guys, it's the apple!"

"Good eye, Cassie," Sam says approvingly to me.

"I just want to get out of this bloody place," I sigh. "No offense but right now I really don't care about Perry."

Priya stiffens but then she says, "I don't blame you, Cassie. If I were you, I would say the same thing."

"Thanks for not getting mad."

"By the way, I still don't like you."

"I don't like you either."

Sam rolls his eyes. "Typical."

…

 **Well, that was close! Only one item to go: the necklace.**


	31. A Cruel Goodbye

**Fair warning: at the end of this chapter, there may (or may not) be a slightly gory scene involving sharp claws and blood. No spoilers intended, I thought I better warn you in case you're squeamish :)**

…

 **Carl's POV**

Nobody has moved. Apollo's unconscious, so obviously he can't move. Heinz and Kata are simply clutching each other. Artemis is lying sprawled on her back, her arms and legs spread out. I think she's trying to catch her breath.

I think my leg's broken. There's a dull yet quite intense pain coming from it, and I can't move it. I manage to roll onto my stomach. I push myself onto my elbows but I have neither the strength nor the inclination to try and stand.

A moment later, I feel someone trying to help me up. The moment I put weight on my foot, I let out a yelp of pain and nearly fall over again.

"Whoa, steady," says Kata, supporting me.

She slings my arm over her shoulder. "Okay, I'm gonna be honest." I look up into the sky. "I have completely forgotten where we are in the maze and I have no idea which direction we were even going in."

"Frankly, me too," Heinz confesses from Apollo's side.

"I too seem to have lost my sense of direction," adds Kata.

Which basically meant the same thing.

"The real problem is: we can't find the centre," says Artemis, who hasn't moved. "And we don't know if all the items have been found so we don't even know if the centre is open yet."

Kata glares at her. "Thanks, Little Miss Doom-And-Gloom."

"I'm just saying."

"Guys, Apollo's out quite badly," Heinz diagnoses. "I don't think he's going to wake up for a while."

"And I can't walk, even with help," I contribute. "Why don't I stay here with Apollo, and you three go on ahead?"

Artemis rolls onto her elbows. "I don't really want to leave either of you," she says. "But I think Carl's right. Heinz, Kata, and I will have more chance of finding the centre without Apollo and Carl."

All of a sudden, there's the sound of a distant explosion, which makes us all jump. Wordlessly, Heinz goes around the corner to scope the situation. Kata shifts herself slightly, making me aware of the fact that my weight is making her tired.

"You can put me down now," I tell her.

She shakes her head. "It's fine."

"It wasn't a question."

She gives me a look and lowers me to the ground. Heinz comes running back around the corner, holding something in his hand. "I found the necklace!"

No sooner has he said those words than there is a distant rumbling sound. "That's the centre opening," I state.

"Are you sure?" asks Kata.

"I've worked on this test for years. I know what the centre opening sounds like."

"Well, then we have a job to do," Artemis says, getting to her feet. "We need to find the centre."

 **Ravi's POV**

"We found the centre," I announce.

"Yes, yes we have," says Hazel.

We stare at the gap between the hedges, which leads to a large circular clearing. In the middle of the clearing is a metal box large enough to be a room.

 **Perry's POV**

I watch on the monitor.

"Looks like all the objects have been found," purrs Jodie. "And…oh, look!" She feigns surprise. "Ravi's group has found the centre! Looks like they'll be coming in here soon."

Sure enough, there's a knock at the door, which is located behind and to the left of my cage. Jodie gets out of her chair, goes to a microphone on the wall, and says, "What's the password?"

"Um…" says Ravi's voice. "I have no idea."

"Can we come in?" asks Parker.

I hear Mayfair take a sharp breath in.

"Dad, are you in there?" Hazel's voice calls.

I want desperately to reassure her that I am indeed in here, but I'm afraid of what Jodie will do so I keep silent. Jodie smiles sweetly at me and then manually opens the door, letting bright light flood into the room. Ravi, the only one of the agents who is old enough to remember Jodie, jumps back in alarm.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" asks Jodie, acting hurt.

"You're not my friend," Ravi spits.

"Mayfair!" shouts Parker, catching sight of his sister.

He runs past Jodie into the room and hugs Mayfair's waist. The purple cat crouches down and the two siblings share a hug.

"Dad!" comes Hazel's voice.

My daughter comes running to my cage and takes hold of my hand through the bars. Tears are falling down her face. "Are you okay?" she asks.

I nod. "Be careful, Hazel."

Jodie suddenly takes Hazel by the waist and throws her into a corner. A moment later, Ravi and Parker follow. Jodie takes down an ominous looking gun from the wall and casually tosses it to Mayfair. "Kill the grey platypus."

"No!" I yell.

 **Mayfair's POV**

I look down at the gun. It's specially made—probably one of the only ones of its kind. I look up at Hazel, the sister of the boy who broke my heart. She's staring at me with a terrified look on her face. I shift my gaze to Parker and find him regarding me with horror, as if he's seeing the monster I've become.

I can't do this.

Not only will Parker loathe me forever if I kill Hazel, it goes against what the deal I made with Jodie: nobody except Teddy dies. But now I don't even know whether I want _Teddy_ to die.

This has gone way too far.

"Are you going to do it or not?" snarls Jodie.

I give my answer wordlessly. I smash the gun against the wall, breaking it into pieces. Jodie lets out a roar and I see her claws unsheathe. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ravi and Hazel start to work on getting Perry out of the cage.

Jodie lunges towards me, sharp claws unsheathed. Her heavy paw comes flying towards me. I stumble to the side, meaning that I miss the claws, but her paw still pushes me hard into the wall, dazing me. I shake my head to clear my vision and find Jodie advancing on Parker.

 **Parker's POV**

I edge back against the wall as the ferocious jaguar advances menacingly on me. Her claws look sharp…

I'm going to die.

I screw my eyes shut and scream, "MAYFAIR!" as the jaguar lunges with her claws.

I hear Mayfair scream my name back as I wait for the claws to rip me apart.

It doesn't happen.

I open my eyes and see Perry, Ravi, and Hazel take Jodie down. Lying in front of me with three red welts down her front is my sister, Mayfair. She jumped in front of me to save me.

Kneeling beside her, I yell my sister's name over and over again as I frantically check her breathing. She has a pulse but it's weak. Very weak. The cuts on her stomach are each leaking blood too fast. It's not looking good. Sobbing, I put my hand under her shoulders and gently lift up her upper body until I can put it on my knees with my right arm supporting her head and my left around her front, clutching her shoulder.

"May," I croak.

Her eyes open slightly and she coughs, a bubble of blood bursting in her mouth. "I'm sorry…Parker…"

"Don't be." I can barely see my dying sister through my teary vision. "I'm sorry for what I said to you back in the cells."

"Don't be. I deserved it." She coughs again, heaving breaths punctuating each word. "I was a terrible person. I betrayed you and Mom and Dad and my friends. I let my feelings for one boy determine my life choices, and I shouldn't have done it. I don't deserve to be your sister."

"You _are_ my sister," I tell her quietly, tears nearly completely taking over my face. "And you will always be my sister, no matter what happens."

She smiles weakly. "Please tell Mom and Dad how I died."

"I will," I promise. "I'll tell everyone. They deserve to know that you died after rejecting the bad side. In the end, you made the right decision and didn't kill Hazel."

"I mean that I died to save you," Mayfair chokes.

I can't speak anymore.

Mayfair tries for another smile. "I hope there are macarons in hell."

That makes me laugh through my tears. "You're not going down there. You're a hero, and you'll go to heaven like a hero."

"Nope. I'm going for reincarnation. I'll come back as a little human girl who adopts you when you're old and retired."

I manage another laugh. Mayfair's body suddenly jerks. "No! NO!" I yell, as I hold onto my sister.

"I…love…you…" she rasps.

"I love you too," I whisper. "I love you so much. You're my sister and you'll always be my sister and I love you so much."

She smiles one final time, before her eyes close and her body becomes still. "Oh…" is all I manage before grief takes over me completely. I lower my sister's still body to the floor and bend over it, shaking and sobbing as hard as I'm physically able.

I feel Hazel hug me from behind but my grip on reality is slowly fading as the realisation hits me like a ten ton weight: my sister, Mayfair, the person I love most in the world, is dead.

…

 ***sniffles* *cries* *sobs* okay, that was one of the hardest things I've ever written :'( anyone else crying?**


	32. The End

**Last chapter, folks! Don't cry too much XD**

…

 **Teddy's POV**

None of us can believe it when we hear the news. Despite everything that Mayfair did, she was one of our closest friends, and now she's dead.

Everybody got out of the maze okay. Apollo is absolutely fine, and he's treating Cassie and Carl and all the other injured.

Mom, Hazel, and I had a tearful reunion with Dad, during which he told us that Mayfair died saving Parker, after refusing to hurt Hazel. That is what completely convinced me that Mayfair was able to change: if she truly wanted to hurt me, she'd have hurt and/or killed Hazel. But she didn't.

I'm standing by the memorial remembering Ohio and India, my head bowed. I'm planning to ask Major Monogram if he will add a statuette of Mayfair, since she died a hero in the end.

A noise makes me look up. I see Rai and Shika, the two young children, running towards their parents. "Mom! Dad!" they chorus. I see Kata and Heinz hug them tightly. It makes me smile, knowing that at least their family is whole.

Someone comes up next to me and holds my hand, interlocking our fingers. "I never got the chance to tell her how sorry I am about how rude I was to her when she found about us," Piper laments.

"I never told her that she was one of my closest friends, despite the recent awkwardness between us," I lament.

There is a pause. "I honestly thought you'd choose her at certain points," confesses Piper. "I never really thought you'd choose Madeline, but Mayfair really seemed like someone you'd go for."

"That's making me feel worse."

"Sorry."

We sit down on the bench opposite the memorial and just watch the sun setting.

After a few minutes, I spot a familiar shape coming over to look at the memorial. I stand up and go to the shape. "Hi Madeline."

"Teddy," says Madeline.

She looks different; her usual smirk is gone and a sad expression is on her face. I remember that Mayfair was Madeline's best friend. "I'm sorry about Mayfair."

Madeline shrugs helplessly. "She made her own decision. I will miss her, though."

"Of course."

There's a pause. "I want to tell you something," Madeline says dully. "I want to tell you that I was never really interested in you."

"What?"

"Your girlfriend Piper-."

"Mate," I correct her.

"She had some concerns about me, I know that. But you can tell her she has nothing to worry about. I've moved on from you."

I nod gratefully. "Thanks for understanding."

She chuckles bitterly. "Bet I took it better than Mayfair did, huh?"

I stare at her. She grimaces. "Too soon?"

"A little, yeah."

She claps me on the shoulder. "Well, I'll see you round."

"Sure."

As Madeline leaves, I go back to sit on the bench and relay to Piper what Madeline said. She relinks our fingers and we sit like that for a further ten minutes.

Then someone joins us on the bench. "Are you okay, Dad?" I ask.

Dad sighs. "Not really, Ted. Watching your son's closest non-girlfriend friend die to save her brother is not something you just forget."

"I am a little bit glad that I wasn't actually there," I say truthfully. "It'd tear me apart if I witnessed it."

"Be grateful you weren't," Dad says bluntly.

We sit in silence for a few more minutes. Then I decide to ask a question that I've had on my mind for a while now. "Dad, why is it that all the humans in Danville dislike us?"

 **Perry's POV**

He's never asked me that before, but I've explained it a lot to other people so I know what I'm going to say.

"They're having the same reaction on a mass scale that my owners had when they briefly found out about my double life over a decade ago. They were angry and hurt because they believed that I was only using them as a cover instead of being a part of their family. That's what the people of Danville think now. They're angry and hurt that we've been "using" them as cover stories. Anger and hurt can make people lose sight of things, like everything we've done for the Tri-State Area."

 **Piper's POV**

After Perry finishes, we sit in silence. I'm just reflecting on what he said when I hear Major Monogram telling everyone to come inside. Teddy and I take hands again as we follow Dad into the OWCA building. Waiting for us in the main hall with Major Monogram is a large group of unknown animal and human agents. _These must be COWCA's agents,_ I realise.

 **Perry's POV**

To my delight, I spot Lyla Lolliberry, Edie Ellershaw, Reuben Roddenstein, and Monty Monogram among the agents. Also there is the snow leopard twins: Diana and Lewis; Rae the Rabbit; and Seth the Flying Squirrel. I haven't seen them since the retreat, almost a decade ago.

 **Piper's POV**

Major Monogram goes onto the stage and addresses the OWCA and COWCA agents. We listen as he explains the plan, just as he had to Teddy and me in his office.

 **Perry's POV**

I'm fascinated by Major Monogram's plan, and also very glad that my friends are here to stay.

"Now, there are some housing issues at the moment," Major Monogram's saying. "We didn't expect as many COWCA agents as we have. So we need between eight and twelve agents to a house."

A minimum of eight…

I count me, Priya, Pearl, Teddy, Hazel, and Piper. That's only six, not including Quinn.

Everybody begins getting into groups with the people they want to room with. Just like I thought, the six of us group together.

"We need to find at least two more people," I say.

At that moment, Lyla comes up to us. "Hey, guys," she says. "Would it be okay if I room with you?"

"Sure!" I say, knowing that my family wouldn't mind. "What about Edie and Reuben?"

"Edie's got some friends in COWCA that she's rooming with," Lyla answers. "And Reuben's semi-retired from COWCA. He's living with his wife in San Francisco now."

"He got married to Maria!" I gasp.

"Yes he did," grins Lyla. "He was sorry you had to miss it but he didn't want it to be a very big affair."

Once we've gotten registered, Major Monogram takes me aside. "Agent P, do you have a moment?"

"Yes, sir. What's up?"

"I wouldn't ask this of you if I had any other choice, but I wanted to ask if Apollo and Artemis would be able to live with you. They've got nobody else."

"That's fine," I say, my happiness level rising. Living with Apollo and Artemis will really make the house livelier.

"Is there anybody in your current house that has a problem with either of them?"

"No, they're really popular in my family," I reply. "I don't think Lyla has any problem with them either."

"Has Agent Lolliberry met them?"

"Once," I remember. "When we stormed LOVEMUFFIN headquarters to get Priya back that Christmas."

"Oh yes. I do appreciate it, Agent P."

"No problem."

…

 **Teddy's POV**

"BAGSIE THIS ROOM!" shrieks Hazel, running into one of the bedrooms.

"You and your grandmother are going to be sharing, okay?" Mom tells her.

I think she's going to argue but she says, "Okay, but if I can decide where my bed goes."

"The house is already furnished."

"Then I decide which bed I get."

"Deal."

Dad's bringing in Quinn's crib while Apollo and Artemis bring in their suitcases, chatting to Lyla.

We've divvied up the rooms so that there are two people to a room. Naturally, Mom and Dad are sharing with Quinn; Piper and I are sharing; Pearl and Hazel are sharing; Lyla and Artemis are sharing; and Apollo's sleeping on his own in the attic room.

Piper and I go into our room. It's fairly small, with a double bed, a very small wardrobe, and a bookshelf. In the corner by the window are two wicker chairs and a small coffee table.

"It's cute," Piper comments.

"Yes, yes it is."

Neither of us begin unpacking yet; we both just sit down on our new bed and listen.

I hear Artemis and Lyla, two grown adults, racing each other to their room; I hear Hazel screeching as someone, most likely Pearl, tickles her; I hear Quinn squealing in delight as Mom plays with her; and I hear Dad and Apollo having a chat in the room next door.

I can't stop myself from smiling as I take Piper's hand. For the first time in a while, I feel home.

…

 **And that's the end of Teddy's Adulthood! Thank you to everybody who has read/will read this story, especially to Nightflame203 for leaving reviews on every chapter and giving me ideas/criticism :) hope to see you all soon for Hazel's Mission.**

 **"** **Often, the most fun can be found in your own backyard."-Ferb Fletcher, Wizard of Odd.**


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